HiddenLeaf Revelations
by Saori D'Arcy
Summary: Sasuke has decided to destroy Konoha in his quest for vengeance. Finally accepting the darkness in Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, along with Sai and Neji, leave the village in a quest of their own: to hunt and kill the last Uchiha. How Sasusaku came to be.
1. Crossing the Line

Disclaimer: Kishimoto Masashi is the owner of _Naruto_ and its characters. I am not KishimotoMasashi. Therefore, I do not own Naruto and its characters.

**Naruto: Hidden-Leaf Revelations**

**Crossing the Line**

Kakashi Hatake watched quietly from inside the Hokage's tower as leaf shinobi made their way to the Uchiha District under the glory of the crimson moon in the starless sky.

"_They are going to die!"_ Kakashi clenched his fist tightly in an effort to stop himself from screaming in rage.

"_I should be there with them. I should be fighting with my friends!_" He was tempted to jump from the tower's window or to teleport his way to where the battle was ensuing. He came close to it. He made the signs necessary for a teleportation jutsu, but at the last moment he hesitated.

"_I can't_! _My heart might be in the Uchiha District, but my mission is here. Safely watching as other shinobi put their lives on the line for the village", _he added bitterly and reminded himself just how much he hated his job.

Fortunately for Kakashi and to his relief, two ANBU arrived, each one carrying small, cloaked figures in their arms.

"The mission was a success. We were able to rescue these two from the enemy", reported a female with long, blonde hair, which was tied in a pony tail. She was wearing a bird's mask.

"Their parents?" Kakashi inquired, looking at the two trembling forms in the ANBU's arms.

"Presumably dead", replied a male voice from behind a rhino's mask.

"_Dead?" _He felt like his heart stopped beating for a second. The ANBU's words echoed in his mind. A mental picture of the children's parents materialized. Their faces laughing and smirking back at him with joy. He would never see those faces again. The picture shattered, leaving nothing but darkness. Then just as fast as his heart stopped, it resumed with a need.

"_I will kill him!"_

For the second time, Kakashi wanted nothing more than to storm from the Hokage's office and end the life of the one who had caused him such unbearable pain. But just as before, he hesitated. One look at the small children in the ANBU's arms made him stop and calmed his thoughts. Now was not the time to let his emotions get the better of him. His time for vengeance would come eventually. He needed to get the children out first.

"Lower the children", Kakashi ordered. The two ANBU promptly followed his command and placed the two children in front of the silver-haired shinobi. Kakashi could not see their faces. The cloaks both children wore were too large for them, and their hoods completely covered their faces. But it was not necessary to see their faces to know both children were terrified of what they had just witnessed. There was no one who would not be terrified after having his people murdered in front of him.

"_Or not_", he mended as he saw the child with the male ANBU clutching his fist in the exact way Kakashi had earlier. "_Hmm, this is one will be trouble."_

If Kakashi had learned something about the Uchiha Clan over the past years was that they had a habit of making revenge their number one priority; a priority that eventually evolved into an obsession.

Kakashi sighed. Getting the children out of the village was probably going to be more complicated than he thought, but he had no time to waste. The moment the enemy found out that their targets were not in the Uchiha District, they would be coming here. He needed to evacuate them as soon as possible.

"_But better to make it clearer to them what they are up against_."

"Children listened to me carefully", Kakashi paused before saying the words that would make their situation a reality. "Your family is dead. There is nothing you can do about it."

Both children and the ANBU stiffened. They had not expected such blunt, not to mention, tactless declaration.

Kakashi ignored them and continued. "You need to get out of this village. You will not be alone. Asuka and Jun will go with you", he looked at the two ANBU standing silently behind the children.

"Why should we listen to you?" asked one quiet and furious voice.

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow, "Why? Because if you stay, you die. Now…"

Kakashi walked over to the Hokage's desk while letting his statement sink in. He opened a drawer and took out two kunais. He then performed a series of hand seals and produced an enormous scroll.

"But that is-" Asuka yelled bewildered from her place.

"The scroll of all the forbidden jutsus sealed way by the first Hokage." Behind their masks, both ANBU stared at the scroll Kakashi was holding as if it was a ticking bomb ready to explode at any given moment.

"Asuka, Jun", he commanded, regaining their attention. "You are to use this scroll to escape with the children."

"Is _he_ that dangerous?" Asuka asked. For them to resort to such desperate measures, their foe had to be a force to be reckoned with.

Kakashi narrowed his visible grey eye. Images of the monstrosities their enemy committed flashed in his mind.

"You have no idea. He is a genius and a formidable opponent in battle. This is our only chance. He will come after the surviving Uchiha." He then moved to kneel in front of children and handed them each a kunai.

"If they get close to you, don't die without a fight." He looked closely at one child in particular and added, "You are an Uchiha. Uchiha's don't die without a fight."

The children grabbed the kunais and held them close to their chest. Behind their cloaks, their eyes were terrified, but they were also determined. They would not die. Sensing their feelings, Kakashi could not helped but think the children were going to be fine. He stood up as Asuka and Jun once again stood behind their charges. Jun had placed the scroll under his left arm.

"I assume you both have an idea where the place you need to head is located?"

Both ANBU nodded, as they each recalled another ANBU showing them a dead-looking tree in the middle of the forest.

"In that case, good-" Kakashi broke off as the tower shook violently, breaking the windows in the process. Asuka and Jun covered the screaming children with the upper portion of their bodies while Kakashi whirled around in time to see enemy-nin making their way to the tower.

"GO!" Kakashi ordered. The ANBU placed their hands on the children and disappeared in a whirl of leaves. Kakashi saw from the corner of his eye the last of the leaves make their way to the floor before he turned to face the window and removed the headband protector from his left eye, revealing his sharingan.

"_It is time for my vengeance_."

* * *

Miles away from the Hokage's tower, Asuka and Jun appeared in front of Konoha's entrance with their charges. They wasted no time and settled the children on their backs.

"The plan?" Asuka asked her partner as seven enemy-nin blocked the exit to the village. It seemed the enemy had anticipated the children making a break for it.

"Follow my lead", Jun responded calmly, and the two ANBU broke in to a run. The enemy-nin prepared themselves for battle. They took kunais and shuriken between their fingers and waited for the incoming ANBU to come closer.

From behind her mask, Asuka smirked as she and Jun made seven clones of themselves and the children. Eight Asukas and Juns, each with a child on their back, sped forward, blocking the kunais and shurikens thrown at them. Then the real ANBU jumped to the air, flew over their enemy, and landed swiftly behind them. They broke into a furious run and left their clones behind to fight the imbeciles, who dared to call themselves shinobi.

Once within the forest, the two ANBU leaped from one tree branch onto another, each move was fast and silent. It took them a couple of minutes to reach the middle of the forest despite the weight they carried. The forest was too quiet, suspiciously quiet. Asuka straightened her ears to hear any suspicious noise and tried to sense the enemy. She could feel several chakra signatures far behind them, none of them recognizable.

"Asuka?" Asuka turned her head slightly to hear the child on her back. The mask she wore and the child's hood made it impossible for her to see his face. But Asuka felt the silent tears the child was shedding on her shoulder.

"Hey", Asuka said, thinking the child was afraid of being captured. "We won't let them get to you." More tears flowed from the child and a small cry escaped his lips.

Finally he spoke. "Is mommy dead?" He blurted out as if the question was one he had been holding inside and could no longer suppress.

Asuka looked to Jun, loss for words and very taken back. What could she say to a child who had just seen his family massacred in front of him? Everything will be alright? That would be a lie.

She had always been lacking in the comforting department, but she would not take the easy way out and lie.

Her distraction nearly cost her. A kunai flew down at her direction. She reacted in the nick of time, dodged the kunai, and landed on another tree branch. Her partner landed next to her. They both looked up at her attacker, ignoring the inexcusable mistake Asuka had just made.

The shinobi staring back at them was a black-haired man of slight build and grey eyes. He wore a headband protector with a slash crossed in front of it, a missing-nin from the mist. He did not speak. He did not have to. The challenge was made the moment he threw the kunai at Asuka.

Jun lowered the child he carried on his back.

"What are you doing?" Asuka demanded.

"He must be competent for us not to feel his chakra", Jun commented, thinking back at how easily they had escaped earlier. "I will deal with him. You take the children and this", he handed Asuka the scroll. The second she took it Jun jumped up and began to engage in combat with the enemy.

Asuka directed some chakra to her right arm and wrapped it around the other child's waist. With one child on her back, another in her right hand, and the scroll in her left, she turned to run with her load when another shinobi appeared in front of her.

"_Damn me_!"

The new shinobi smiled at her before throwing a punch.

Asuka blocked it with her left fore-arm. The shinobi smiled at her once again, taking note of the load she was carrying before throwing a kick directed at her gut.

Asuka jumped back. Both of her charges yelled in surprise, while she cursed at her inability to make any hand signatures for a jutsu. Unless she dropped the children, it looked like taijutsu was her only choice.

"Very good, woman. You are fast. But let's see how long can you keep this up", said the shinobi sadistically.

Now that she was not under attack, she could see the other shinobi. He too was a missing-nin from the mist. He had short, brown hair tied behind his head. There was something disturbing in the way he looked at her. As if she was a piece of meat ready to be torn apart and eaten up.

She did not like it, but she had to get away and fast. Asuka could hear Jun was still engaged in battle. Judging the time that it was taking her partner to finish up his opponent, it was plainly clear that both men were not regular, weak shinobi.

"And now, let the fun begin", her attacker yelled as he directed a water jutsu at her. Asuka's actions were limited to dodging the attack once again.

"_I can't attack without leaving the children unprotected_", she thought and gritted her teeth from a tree branch.

Just then her attacker rose before her with a large sword, pointing down at her. There was no time for a physical reaction. All Asuka could do was prepared herself for the pain that would curse through her body in a matter of seconds.

No pain came.

Jun had appeared in front and halted the attack using his ninjato.

"Shadow Clone", the enemy shinobi chuckled under his breath and momentarily glanced upwards, where his partner was still engaged in battle with the real Jun. "You truly are good".

"Asuka", Jun's furious voice made the ANBU flinched. It was rare for Jun to lose his temper in battle. "Don't just stand around but do as I say!"

"Oh, no. You are not leaving!" the shinobi said and tried to attack Asuka again. Jun forcefully kicked the shinobi in the gut, sending him flying backwards into a tree.

Not wanting to be told-off again, Asuka sprinted away. She sensed the chakras that had been behind them were now too close for her comfort. Hearing the charge on her back whimper made Asuka turned her head around.

"Hold on! We are almost at the clearing."

Asuka was not lying to the child. She could see the clearing, but most importantly, she could see the dead tree from her memories. It would take a couple of minutes before she reached it, but once there, she could escape with the children.

"_Come on, Asuka. Ten more trees….seven….four…two…"_

Asuka and the children landed on the clearing. Instantly, Asuka dropped both children and ignored the protest that came from one of them. She opened the scroll and began furiously looking for the jutsu that she needed.

Kakashi had not told her or Jun what jutsu to use. But it was deliberate. Just as Kakashi had known the two ANBU knew about the dead tree, he had also known about their knowledge of the jutsu. He knew Asuka and Jun had been chosen by the children's parents to be their protectors and thus shown the only way to take them to safety.

Asuka found the jutsu and read it quickly, paying close attention to the hand seals she would use. She then bit her thumb and began making the hand signals needed. Once completed, she directed her thump to the ground. Blue flames shot out from under it and quickly ran in a line. The instant the flames touched the tree; the latter began to glow blue.

"_You must step into the tree_", a distant voice echoed in Asuka's mind. She grabbed the scroll and was about to take the children's hands when she detected chakra signatures.

"What the –", out of thin air, a long sword went through her gray armor and pierced the lower part of her abdomen. The pain that instanly overtook her body like fire made Asuka cry out.

The sword was pulled out of her body as it collapsed with shock. A small flow of liquid escaped from her gasping mouth. She touched it and brought it to her eyes.

Blood.

"Found you. Half dead you are, but we found you. Leaf has gone soft if you are the best they got, Miss ANBU", Asuka looked up to glare at the Shinobi taunting her, but was taken back when she recognized him.

"You are… the sadist from the forest." Asuka weakly wiped the blood with her arm and tried to get up. The shinobi smiled down at her with pleasure at being remembered and seeing she still had some fight left in her.

"Your partner says hi. Don't worry, you will see him again." He kicked her in the exact place where her wound was. Asuka bit down her tongue to hold her cry from escaping again. She tried to get up from the ground, but collapse.

"Asuka!" Her charges rushed to her side, but they instantly became surrounded by a group of shinobi. Asuka saw one of the children - the one she had carried - throw his kunai at the nearest shinobi. His target yelled in pain as the kunai accurately stabbed his leg.

"You stinky brat!" the injured shinobi threw a shurinken at the child in retaliation.

"Watch out!" Asuka widen her eyes in horror as she saw the shurinken make its way. Her voice triggered the other child into action. He quickly stepped in front of the other and blocked the attack using his own kunai. But something went wrong. No one was moving. The shinobi gaped at the child like he had just grown a third head.

"Those eyes!" one of them gasped.

"_What is going on?_" Asuka could not see the child from her angle, but she heard another yell of pain coming from the group. She guessed another kunai had stabbed its target.

"Disable them already!" said the sadist, exasperated by a group of shinobi unable to take down two children and marched to get them himself.

Ignoring her wound, Asuka got up from the ground in time to see two shinobi spitting black liquid from their mouths onto the children's eyes. The children screamed and covered their eyes with their hands. The sadist forcefully grabbed one of them by the front of his cloak.

"You aren't much of a threat now."

"Let – me- GO!" the child struggled to get free. He tried to kick the shinobi with the sole of his feet, but the shinobi just moved his head to the side, exposing his neck.

It was an opportunity and Asuka took it.

"Didn't you hear?" a ninjato pressed against the side of his neck. "Are all Mist shinobi deaf?"

The shinobi's eyes registered five of his men lying on the floor.

"Well aren't you a sneaky woman", he said before he dropped the child, whirl around, and took his sword to meet Asuka's. But she was not there. He spun around to where the children were, but they too were missing. Suddenly, a large shadow was cast over him. He looked up to see a large hawk hovering over him, before it flew to the glowing tree.

"STOP HER!" growled the shinobi as he ran after the flying eagle. He could see Asuka kneeling on one knee on top of the eagle's head while the two children held on to her arms for dear life.

"This is the closest I can get Asuka. I cannot go beyond the portal", the hawk said.

"Distract them while we escape, Sora."

The hawk turned to face the three remaining Shinobi as Asuka, with the children clutching to her arms, jumped down. Once they were on the ground, Sora flew to attack the Shinobi. But they dispersed in time to avoid his beak.

Asuka pumped chakra, which was so low that she was sure she was using her life's reserve, into her feet and raced again. She was certain they would make it to the tree. She heard a scream.

She stopped and turned to see a thin, blue chakra string wrapped around one of the child's leg. The child screamed once again as one enemy-nin tugged on the Chakra string. The force of the tug made the child's cloak fall off revealing pink hair.

"No! Sa-" Asuka yelled and reached for one of the child's extending hands. The moment she grabbed one, she felt another sharp object go through her body.

Asuka looked down and recognized the sword that had pierced her before.

Suddenly, the world before Asuka started to become a blur. She found that her arms began to shake violently, threatening to let go of the children. She tried to calm herself by breathing, but found she was breathing rapidly and with difficulty.

"_I'm dying?_" she asked sadly, shutting her eyes. She could hear the children yelling her name, but their voices were an echo in the background. She lost herself to the endless memories resurfacing and playing in her head.

Her time in the academy was the best and worst in her life. Iruka-sensei would always sigh whenever she tried to produce a clone of the Hokage. Her classmates would make fun of her weak techniques. Every afternoon she would run to the forest, climb a tree, and just sit there. Mad that she was so stupid and weak.

But despite her shortcomings, she graduated from the academy and joined Jun's team. She was the worse in the team, but her determination to become the best allowed her to slowly become stronger. She became strong enough to get her idol to recognize her as one of Konoha's best. It was this memory, and one of her and Jun sitting by a sakura tree, which helped her to remember her mission was still incomplete. She needed to fight just one last time.

"_Uchihas are not the only ones who don't die without giving a fight. Besides, as I once told Jun …_"

"I...always…f- finish my…missions!" Asuka opened her eyes and pulled her charge's hand. The chakra string broke, but the force of the break made Asuka and the two children fall backwards into the glowing tree. Their bodies arched as they penetrated it and disappeared. As soon as they disappeared, the tree stopped glowing, and the avenue of blue flames ceased to burn.

The remaining shinobi stared at the tree with disbelief, without blinking, and not sure what had just happened.

The shinobi Asuka had called a sadist moved forward and inspected the sight. The tree was completely solid, unlike the one that had allowed itself to be penetrated a few moments ago. It was hot and solid.

He frowned. This was not good. The Lord would be furious when he found out, and he – the sadist – would not be the one to deliver the news.

"Someone go and tell the Lord our targets have escape", he barked.

"No need, Kaito. I am here, and I do believe this _thing_ is yours", instantly all shinobi went on one knee before a tall man with flowing black hair. His shinobi stared frozen at the floor. It was not good. Whenever their leader used that sweet tone of voice, he was clearly displeased and rapidly becoming furious.

"It is yours, Kaito?" Kaito hesitantly looked at his master. The man was holding the ANBU's hawk by the neck. He could see the animal was stiff and eyes were lifeless.

Not getting a response, the man released the animal, and its body fell to the ground with a thud. He then made his way to the tree.

The atmosphere was so thick that his subordinates could hardly breathe as the man made his own inspection of the tree. They could phantom the punishment they would receive for letting the ANBU and the brats escape.

But suddenly their leader smirked, his eyes glowing while remaining on the tree.

"Well, boys. It seems you are in luck. The jutsu used is one I recognize." At this, the shinobi let out a breath of relief and took of their eyes from the floor. One of them was even bold enough to speak.

"What do we do now, my lord?"

The man tossed back his black hair over his shoulder.

"We go after them", he said pleasantly and licked his bottom lip with his tongue.

* * *

The bonds of friendship have been finally severed. As Konoha mourns, one of its own, Team Seven has finally made its decision. With one goal in mind, Sakura and Naruto train to achieve the status to kill their former friend.

Next Time in Hidden-Leaf Revelations: Sasuke Must Die!

A special thank you to:

Hypnotic Flames

Libith

Maxium

Silver Lone Wolf

TeenageNeko

You readers keep me going


	2. Sasuke Must Die!

Disclaimer: Kishimoto Masashi is the owner of Naruto and its characters. I am not Kishimoto Masashi. Therefore, I do not own Naruto and its characters.

A/N: **Inner Sakura's thoughts**

_Sakura's regular thoughts and others' thoughts_  
**  
Sasuke Must Die!**

Haruno Sakura ran through the dark and musty tunnel. Her heart was beating like a drum: loud and powerful. Her bright green eyes were desperate yet focused on finding something, anything that would lead her towards her goal. Her mind was yelling the name of her teammate, but it was also telling her:

"**Sakura you are dreaming**."

And it was true. Haruno Sakura was stuck in a dream thanks to her inner-self. It seemed her inner-self felt Sakura needed to remember the first time that Sasuke tried to kill her. And since Sakura did not possess a time-traveling jutsu, the best way to travel to the past was through a dream. But Sakura did not care that she was dreaming, and she could care less about her inner-self's agenda. All she cared about was seeing the face of her teammate again.

"**Why Sakura? It doesn't matter how much you wish to see him or how much you want to change the past. You cannot change what happened, not even in your dreams**."

An explosion sounded throughout the tunnel. Sakura, Naruto, and Yamato tried to keep their balance as it shook.

"Wha –What was that?" Naruto asked. Left, right, he had no idea where the source of the explosion came from.

"Over there", Sakura felt her mouth moved without her permission. Ever since the dream began, she tried to speak and move her body. She tried to do anything different from what had already happened and made this mission a failure, but it was useless.

"**Sakura, just watch and see. Don't fight it anymore. Accept the past and move on. It's the purpose of this dream**."

Sakura, Naruto, and Yamato felt Sai's chakra and followed it like bloodhounds. There was a light at the end of the tunnel they were running in. Sakura saw a dark shape standing in the middle of the light. Her dream-self tightened her fist and sped forward. Her desperate eyes suddenly became hateful by the betrayal her team had suffered by one of their own. Sakura tried to calm her dream-self, but nothing she said and did made a difference in what was occurring.

The Sakura in her dream reached Sai and yanked him by his collar. She wanted to call Sai many names that were befitting of what he had done, but when she spoke none of them came out.

"You! What the hell are you doing!" the voiced sounded like an echo. "How many times? How many times to you plan to stab us in the back before you're ha-"

Her ranting was interrupted by a voice as soft and fleeting as the wind. Sakura's dream-self unconsciously turned to where the voice was and froze. Her eyes widened with disbelief. She released her hold on Sai and spoke the name of her former teammate; the one who broke her heart:

"Sasuke."

Uchiha Sasuke looked back at her from the top of the crater with emotionlessly. She heard as someone stumbled next to her, but her eyes did not leave the Uchiha. He could disappear again if she did.

"Sasuke", Naruto said the name of the teammate he had been desperately searching for two and a half years; the one who was like a brother to him.

"And Naruto. You came as well. Does that mean that Kakashi is here?" Sasuke asked, but from his tone and expression it looked like it didn't matter to him.

"No, he is not here", Yamato walked to stand next to his team, "But I am here in his place. We are team Kakashi, and we are here to take you back to Konoha."

"**How many times, Sakura? How many times have you wished Sasuke came back with you on that day? But instead of coming back, what did he do?**" Sakura did not respond. Instead she remained quiet and allowed the dream to flow. The wheels of her brain were beginning to turn. She was taking in everything; she was seeing and hearing and connecting the dots.

"Team Kakashi, huh?" there was a hint of mockery in Sasuke's voice. Sai placed his sword in front of him. Anger for the traitor resurfaced within dream-Sakura.

"You traitor! I knew it!" She raised her fist at him while Naruto and Yamato looked at the young artist with confusion, but their ponderings were interrupted by their mission.

"So he is my replacement" Sasuke measured Sai with his eyes; he did not look impressed, "earlier he was talking nonsense about protecting the bonds between me and Naruto…quite the pansy he is. I am sure he is a perfect fit for this team."

Dream-Sakura looked at Sai for his reply. Had Sai really said all that to Sasuke? But for what reason? Could it be another trick? It had to be. He was sent to kill Sasuke, not to save him.

For her part, the real Sakura relished on what Sai had said. It was the moment where her view of the artist began to change. Even do to this day the artist still made her furious with his stupid nicknames and awkward questions; she had come to consider him a teammate and a friend.

"It is true. My initial mission was to assassinate Sasuke", Sai replied without taking his eyes from said Uchiha. "But that mission is no longer important to me. I want to begin thinking and acting for myself. It is because of Naruto that I might be able to remember how to feel. Something which I can't help but think was very important for me."

Sasuke did not respond. Sai resumed, "I do not know you, but there is a reason why Sakura and Naruto have been chasing after you with such passion."

"**Not anymore, Sai. Naruto and Sakura will chase Sasuke with a different passion now. Isn't right, Sakura**_?_ " The real Sakura lamented the fact that her inner-self was right. "**Just look at him. We should have realized that he had changed for the worse.**"

"In order to prevent their bonds with you from being broken, in order to keep them intact, they are doing everything they can. I still don't understand it well myself – the bond – but you Sasuke should know why."

"_Sai, stop_!" The real Sakura yelled, but nothing came out of her mouth. The words were lost in her mind. Never to be heard by others except by her and her inner-self, "_Can't you see? He doesn't care. We are nothing to him except pests_."

Dream-Sakura and Naruto looked at Sasuke with anticipation, anxiously waiting for his reply.

"I did, and that is why I severed them", Sasuke said as if what he had done was the most natural thing to do. Disbelief took over the team. Sasuke continued, "I have other bonds I carry now…fraternal bonds, born out of hatred. I don't want your bonds. They only give birth to hopes and dreams that are useless to someone like me."

"**Those words hurt more than Sasori's piercing sword did, don't they? But what is your answer Sakura**?"

"_500 times_"

Inner-Sakura was right on everything. But she was especially right on the fact that Sakura should have realized the darkness within Sasuke on that day. It would have been better if Sasuke died on that day. The village would have preserved its honor, and Naruto would have been saved from some of the grief Sasuke had caused him recently.

"**It's ok, Sakura. When it came to Sasuke, we were not wise. Especially Naruto. Just look at him**."

"If that is true, then", Naruto looked back at Sasuke with a mixture of stubbornness and anger, "why didn't you kill me back then! Is that what you call severing bonds?"

"The reason is simple", Sasuke replied with a serene voice that made all Sakuras wonder how he managed to not be affected by their reunion. " it isn't that I wasn't able. I just didn't want to give _him _the pleasure of seeing me obtain power the way he wanted... by submitting to his plans."

"What do you mean?" Naruto's voice shook; he hated Sasuke's cryptic words. It was always the same with him, and it was making him impatient.

"There is no need for me to tell you, but I will. Back then, I decided to spare you on a whim." One moment Sasuke was standing on top of the crater, the next he was in front of Naruto.

"If I remember correctly, isn't your dream to become Hokage?" Sasuke whispered to a surprised Naruto. "You should have used all these years to train instead of looking for me."

"Sasuke", dream-Sakura said uncertain of what was Sasuke's intention. The real Sakura was becoming anxious. Her inner-self was right. Sakura needed to see it. She needed to remind herself that Sasuke had been lost a long time ago.

"And that is why you are going to end up losing your life. All at a whim of mine", Sasuke said softly before taking his sword from its sheath.

"Like there is a chance a person who can't save his friends can be Hokage", Naruto replied with defiance. His face set on facing whatever Sasuke did to him.

Sakura saw as Sasuke drove his weapon towards Naruto with murderous intent. She saw how Sai blocked the weapon with his sword. Sai said a couple of words that only made Sasuke attack them with his Chidori Nagashi, sending Naruto and Sai to the ground. Dream-Sakura looked with astonishment at the young Uchiha. Had Sasuke just attacked Naruto? What should she do know? A memory of herself flashed in her mind. It was the one where she promised to help Naruto bring back Sasuke the next time they saw him. Dream-Sakura set her eyes on Sasuke and raced forward; her fist tight and chakra enhanced.

"_Yes, Sasuke. I should have known…._"

Sasuke felt an attack come his way and turned to face Sakura. He sent chidori down his sword. "I should have known you were beyond returning the moment I saw your eyes."

Red sharingan eyes, void of any emotion locked on Sakura as their owner prepared to kill her.

"**Remember those eyes the next time you doubt yourself, Sakura. Those eyes that lust for blood and are the bearers of death**."

Sasuke's Sharingan was the last thing Sakura remembered seeing before everything turned black.

* * *

Sakura awoke to the rays of the morning sun caressing the side of her face. She moved her body, so she lay facing down and avoiding the sun. Two things came to her mind. First, she was not in her bed. She was on her bedroom floor. Secondly, her body was hurting like something had run over it.

One quick scanned down her body suggested it did not look better than it felt. She sighed painfully and wondered why she had not healed the wounds she received from her ANBU trials. Now her muscles were aching; she had some cuts oozing with pus, and her bruises were not purple; they were black. Not to mention her head was screaming for her to go back to sleep or at least a couple of pills that would make it numb.

Sakura tried to deal with pain. She had intended to heal herself yesterday, as soon as she got home, but the minute she did get home her first instinct was to go to her bed and lie down. The rest was history. Her current bodily pain was payment for caving to last night's temptation.

Her next thought revolved around the nightmare she had. She refused to call it a dream, because dreams were suppose to be about rainbows and shurinkens. Not about psychopath crushes who threaten your life. It was decided. That nightmare without a doubt was on her top-ten list of worse nightmares-ever. Sakura smiled bitterly. Most girls would not call a dream that had Uchiha Sasuke in it a nightmare. Uchiha Sasuke….

Despite her inner-self's words, now that Sakura was awake, she could not help herself from wishing for the power to move in her nightmare and change everything. She wished for the strength or the courage to stand up to Sasuke and say anything that would make him come back with her.

"That is stupid", Sakura muttered angrily at herself. "Stupid fan-girl thoughts. As if that bastard would listen to me."

Sasuke had no qualms in killing her, as their recent reunion proved. One month ago, Sakura had offered - just like she did the day he left the village- to join Sasuke in his quest. And what did the bastard do? Apart from ordering Sakura to kill a not-so-innocent girl, he tried to kill her! It was true that all along Sakura had planned to kill Sasuke. She tried to gain his trust by telling him what he expected to hear from her, but what if she had been serious? What if she had meant what she said to him? Nothing said "welcome to Sasuke's Quest for Vengeance" like a chidori to the heart.

Sakura exhaled with fatigue. Inner-Sakura had been right in showing Sakura the dream for the latter could not allow herself to think of what would have been if Sasuke came back with Team Kakashi on that day. It only made the decision she and the rest of Konoha's Eleven more difficult than it had to be. At this stage, she had to remind herself that the past was in the past, and no one could change it did; no matter how much she or anyone else wished for it to change.

With that thought in mind, Sakura began to regain her confidence. She would have to thank Inner-Sakura sometime. That nightmare really did the trick. Sakura was ready.

"I will kill you, Sasuke. Just wait and see", Sakura looked at the two red circles marked on her calendar. Today was the day she found out. She was sure the injuries she had received from the previous day would not go to waste. "Just wait and see."

The glory the Uchiha clan had once held in Konoha was erased. Two Uchiha was all it took. First, Uchiha Itachi showed that one of the village's most precious clans was capable of murdering its own. It was Sasuke who finally convinced the villagers the Uchiha were power hungry demons that needed to be exterminated, for Sasuke had not just betrayed his village to join its enemies; he killed one of the village's elders: Danzo, a man who had given everything for his village and was practically a saint in the mind of the villagers.

"If only they knew the truth", Sakura muttered as she jumped from one roof to another. It hurt her body like hell since she did not have enough chakra to completely heal, but she had enough to teleport and that was only if an emergency came. It was the villagers' fault that shinobi could no longer enjoy Konoha's streets and had to resort to such measures. Angry villagers demanding information about whether or not Sasuke had been captured could not climb roofs as efficiently as the ninja. It was also a way to avoid looking at the posters of Danzo that were plastered all over the village's walls. Personally, Sakura had enough of the man to last her a life's time.

"What truth is that Sakura?" Sakura turned and was greeted by a beaten-looking Shikamaru. Sakura stopped on top of a roof.

"Nothing", Sakura lied as the black haired boy yawn. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital?"

Shikamaru ignored Sakura's question and walked to the edge of the roof. Sakura followed him but immediately regretted it. The villagers were talking noisily about their favorite piece of gossip: the death of Danzo by the hand of Uchiha Sasuke.

"You would think they be over it by now. It has been more than a month", Sakura commented quietly.

"Despite the faults we know Danzo had, the villagers appreciated the old man", Shikamaru scratched his head and groaned as he found dry blood tangled in his hair. "It has been a pain on us. They show up at the Hokage's, demanding an army of ANBU to be send after Sasuke."

Sakura snorted. Villagers. They knew nothing about a ninja's business. "Do they know how small ANBU is, and there is already a team after the Akatsuki?"

Shikamaru shook his head and replied, "I doubt it, and they don't care. All they care about is avenging their hero's life and having the head of his murder."

Sakura grew quiet. What Shikamaru said triggered something in her mind. It sounded like the villagers were becoming obsessed with vengeance. Hmm, she wondered whom the villagers reminded her of.

"And to answer your question-" Shikamaru said loud enough for Sakura to be drawn away from her thoughts, "I am here for you."

"Me?" Sakura pointed a finger at herself. Why would Shikamaru want her? She hoped he was not hoping she would heal him. Surely he knew she did not have the amount of chakra necessary to heal.

"It is a drag, really, but the Hokage asked me to get you" Shikamaru's scowl banished, and his eyes grew serious. "Sakura, the results of the trials are in."

* * *

It had been more than a month since the old Team Seven reunited, and it had been more than a month since Sakura and Naruto underwent intense training to become strong enough to earn the rank to kill Sasuke. But they were not the only ones who wanted the rank and the assignment, the other members of the Konoha Eleven also submitted themselves to training. They did not trust Naruto with the task of assassinating the Uchiha, and the trust they had in Sakura disappeared after the stunt she pulled to face Sasuke alone. Not to mention failing to kill Sasuke not once, but twice in one day!

The training they went through had been difficult, especially for Naruto and Sakura. Without Kakashi, they had no one to train them. Eventually, Naruto found a group who promised to teach him to control the power inside him: the kyuubi. Naruto did not say goodbye to Sakura when he left. It was like he had just disappeared. Sakura would have assumed the worse if it was not for Kakashi. It was depressing at first not having Naruto around. Sakura had failed – yet again - to realize how much she needed him. He was her teammate and best friend.

She added more fuel to her misery each time she thought of how everyone had found someone to train them, except for her. But Sakura was not one to wait and see if someone magically appeared in front of her. She took matters into her own hands and started to train by herself. Unfortunately, her progress was slow. Until one day she was approached by the Shizune.

Shizune was no Tsunade; a key to a door that held inside it tremendous power. Shizune was more like a guide on how to use her medical jutsu as attacks. Sakura had known that it was possible for medical jutsu to be used as a form of offense- Kabuto was a proof of that - but she never imagined that she would be using something meant to heal to injured or kill someone.

In less than a month, Sakura acquired simple, yet lethal skills, and she accidently developed a jutsu of her own. But despite her improvement, sometimes Sakura could not help but wondered if her training would be enough to get her what she wanted.

"And today we find out the fruits of our labor", Sakura said softly, thinking of Shizune.

"What was that?"

"Nothing", Sakura smiled and began to make some hand signals, "We should get going or else we are going to be late."

"I doubt it", Shikamaru muttered before he and Sakura disappeared in a whirl of leaves mix with Sakura petals.

Shikamaru was right. They were not late. When they arrived to the Hokage's office, almost everyone was present including a small group of supervisors that consisted of Iruka, Anko, and Shizune.

Like Sakura and Shikamaru, the rest of Kohoha's Eleven were bruised, dirty, some bandaged, but healthy, except for Sai. He was casually leaning against the wall in the corner, unharmed. He waved his hand at Sakura in a greeting. Sakura returned the greeting and walked over to where he was.

"Where is dickless?" Sai whispered to Sakura, but as it turned out, Sakura had been wondering the same thing. The moment she arrived she took note of the two people missing in the room. One of them was the Hokage, but it was expected for him to be late. But the other person's absence came as a surprised to everyone. Many like Sakura had assumed he had camped out outside the office with his ridiculous night cap on his head and an instant cup of ramen next to his sleeping bag.

Sakura shrugged, thinking of where the annoying idiot could possibly be and froze.

"_No! He wouldn't run after Sasuke by himself. Would he_?" Sakura's mind quickly gave her the answer. No, he would not. Naruto would not go after Sasuke without her or without Sasuke making the first move.

Sakura tried to placate her anxiety and help her nerves by trying to recite all the chemicals found in the human body, but the waiting was not helping at all. She respected the Hokage, but she could not keep herself from wondering how such an irresponsible person was chosen to become the village's leader. She supposed the same way Tsunade was chosen; talent surpassed values like punctuality. The bright side of this was that the standards Konoha held for the Hokage were so low that surely Naruto would be chosen some day.

It was not after twenty minutes that the Hokage arrived, and to everyone's chagrin, through the window.

"We do have a door, Hokage", Iruka reminded kakashi, restraining himself from scolding.

"Seeing as I was running a little bit late, I thought the window was much faster", Kakashi replied and turned to address the members of Konoha's Eleven plus Sai.

"First of all I would like to apologize to you all for been late, but you see-." Sakura frown. She bet her money that her former sensei was going to give his usual excuse: a hopeless old lady and her groceries. The nerve of the man! He was probably rereading his perverted books again.

"I had to take a certain someone to the infirmary" Kakashi looked expectantly at Sakura. Sakura instantly knew who that certain someone was.

"Naruto! Is he hurt?"

"He just said he was hurt...munch, munch", someone whispered.

"Yes, but don't worry. It is just exhaustion and a few cuts. Yesterday after the trials, the little weirdo stalked me all the way to my apartment, demanding to know his results. He passed out after two minutes."

"He passed out or you knocked him out?" Iruka from the front of the room asked.

Kakashi cleared him throat before saying, "What matters is that he will be fine after a good and long rest, but we should moved along with the meeting. There are many things I want to speak to you about, and unfortunately, I don't have the time or the energy to explain them to you in detail. This Hokage business is more work than I thought."

The room instantly went quiet as a wooden box appeared on his desk. He opened the box and took out one scroll.

"Hmm, well there are good news and bad news", Kakashi said as he quickly scanned the scroll with his visible eye. "Which one would you like to hear?"

"Good", Ino said.

"Bad", Kiba yelled and Akamaru barked in agreement.

Kakashi looked from Kiba to Ino, "Well, that is useful." He went back to look at the scroll. "I guess good news first."

Sakura held her breathing in and saw as Shizune closed her eyes in prayer.

"Good news, you all move from your current rank."

"Yeah!" Kiba raised one arm to the ceiling and looked at his partner, "Did you hear that Akamaru? We moved up a rank."

"Shut it, you idiot!" Ino scolded. "Didn't you hear he said there was bad news too", she turned to Kakashi and said, "Well, Lord Hokage, what is the bad news?"

Kakashi indicated with his hand to the scrolls inside the box, "These here are the certificates for you new ranks. The certificates are the same for many of you. But for four of you, they are different."

"Are you saying that only four made into ANBU?" Neji asked.

Kakashi shook his head, "No."

"Excuse me, Sensei, but can you be a little bit clearer", Sakura tried to sound as polite as possible, but her voice came out demanding.

"Alright, Sakura", his eye suddenly loss their bored expression and became serious. "Only three will be appointed to ANBU, and the rest will be Jonin."

"The rest will be Jonin?" Neji said thoughtfully, "then that means…"

"Will the following people step up to take their scrolls when I call their name", Kakashi said loudly.

Everyone present, except for Sai, straighten their posture. Kakashi took four scrolls from the top of the box. He looked to the young Shinobi in front of him and felt anxiety mix with pride. Anxiety for he knew the difficult path the young shinobi would have to travel to accomplish their mission. Pride for he had seen the shinobi in front of him grow before his eyes. He knew that they were Konoha's hope for a better future.

"Sai"

"What!" Kiba exclaimed, confusion written all over his face, "But wasn't he already ANBU?"

Sai moved from his place and took the scroll from Kakashi, "Congratulations, Sai. You can go back to your old rank." Sai looked down at his scroll and turned away without a word.

"Okay", Kakashi said slowly, "I expected more, but…next is Hyuga Neji", Neji allowed himself an all-knowing smile on his lips before he stepped forward.

"Congratulations" Kakashi said.

"Thank you", Neji took his scroll and went back to his placed between Ten Ten and Rock Lee, who was torn between cheering for or cursing his eternal rival.

"As expected of the Hyuga protégé. But it does not matter, Lee's eyes suddenly ignited with flames. "There are two spots left. Definitely mine and my precious Sakura's."

Kakashi's sweat dropped as he saw Guy's pupil, "He never changes."

"Well, the next one is..." Kakashi looked from Lee's hopeful face to Choji's gleeful one. The glee coming from the current chips he was munching on as a form of stress reliever. "Haruno Sakura."

Eight pair of incredulous eyes and one drowning in tears for the object of their affection turned to look at the pink-haired medic.

"…"

"**Cha! We did it**!" the voice within Sakura returned. "**He, he, he, look at the faces of those fools. Whose weak know? Cha! We showed you all. Cha! ANBU here we come!**

Weakly, Sakura walked over to where Kakashi was. His arm extended to hand her the scroll. As she grabbed it, Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Good job, Sakura. You make me proud." Sakura's head shot up in surprise and wondered if her ears were playing tricks on her.

"Don't be so surprised, Sakura. You had potential all along."

"Thank you, Sensei", Sakura saw Shizune giving her a thumps up while Iruka smiled at her with pride. She looked at the paper in her hand, but the words in front of her did not make sense. She was too nervous, excited, scared, and happy. She was a mess of emotions, and the voice yelling inside of her was not helping at all.

"You may take your place Sakura", Kakashi whispered.

"Yes, sir!" Sakura replied.

Kakashi gave a sigh as he looked at last scroll in his hand. He wanted to laugh as he read the name quietly in his head. Sakura was not the only one who made him proud today. But unlike Sakura, the owner of the name had not surprised him. That boy never gave up. Kakashi knew that everyone in the room had a guess to which person the last scroll belonged to. It was not necessary for him to announce it. Now, what he needed to do was figure out how he would deliver the news to the owner. Such news needed to be delivered by the right person after all.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto felt a warm and soothing presence near him. He shifted in the bed he was laying on; trying to get closer to the presence, but the second he did his muscles began to ache. He tried to recall what happened to him but nothing came to his mind.

"Naruto, you idiot! Don't move. You are only hurting yourself." Naruto's heart skipped a beat. He knew that bossy and aggressive voice anywhere. Naruto opened his eyes. A pair of bright, green eyes looked back at him with a worried expression.

"Sakura", Naruto's voice sounded hoarse. Sakura walked to the counter that was beside Naruto's bed and poured him a glass of water. She then carefully raised it to his lips.

"Easy now", she said as the blonde drank deeply.

"Thanks", Naruto relaxed his head on his pillow, but stopped.

The memories from before his collapse were coming back to him. He remembered following Kakashi to his apartment and demanding the new Hokage to tell him results of his exam. The silvered-haired Hokage had taken one look at his beaten state before he disappeared from where he was and appeared behind Naruto. Everything went black after that.

"That sly Kakashi-sensei", Naruto muttered darkly before remembering his intent on following his former sensei. His stomach turned over at the thought. "Oh, no!" He looked outside. It was noon. It had been night time when he was knocked out. He had missed the meeting! No, he could go to Kakashi-sensei right now and find out. He had to find out. Naruto got up from his bed and began walking to the window.

"Hey, where do you think you are going", an angry Sakura grabbed Naruto's collar and tried to pulled him back to his bed.

"Let go of me, Sakura", Naruto struggled in the medic's grip. "I need to find out if I am ANBU!"

"You are hurt, moron. You won't make all the way to Kakashi-sensei's. You'll just collapse somewhere, and I'll have to go and pick you up." Sakura finally managed to drag back Naruto to his bed. She made him set on it with a warning that if he made any suspicious moves, he would be knocked down unconscious by her fist.

"But Sakura, I have to find out if I am ANBU. I need to know if I am going to kill Sasuke!"

Sakura stiffened, taken back with what he had just said. "Naruto, you really…"

But of course that was the reason why Naruto wanted to be ANBU. It was not about surpassing the others from their class and showing he was one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha. Those childless thoughts were in the past now. Only to be replaced by reality.

Sakura sat next to the blonde shinobi, surprising him in the process. He had expected Sakura to react angrily, especially since this was the first time they had seen each other since the day he left. But Sakura did not seem furious at all. She look…resigned? As Naruto stared at Sakura, he slowly became conscious of the warmth coming from her body. Suddenly, seeking Kakashi did not seem like an urge anymore.

"I have something for you, Naruto." Sakura said softly and took out a scroll from the pouch around her waist. "For some reason, Kakashi thought that it would be more meaningful if it came from me, which honestly I don't know why."

"What do you mean Sakura?" Naruto said boggled by Sakura's proximity and the emotions such proximity produced in him.

"Congratulations, Naruto", Sakura smiled brightly at Naruto and handed him the scroll. "You are ANBU."

Naruto's mouth fell opened. Then Sakura's words clicked in his mind. With shaken hands, he opened the scroll. As he did, Sakura continued talking. She did not want silence. The silence would just drive her crazy, so she continued with her blabbering.

"I mean, it is more fulfilling if it came from the Hokage himself and not from a medic without importance…"

"You are wrong!" Naruto snapped loudly. He turned to face Sakura. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and his expression was controlled which surprise Sakura. She had expected tears. This was an important moment for Naruto. He was one step closer to not just being Hokage, but he was one step closer to killing Sasuke.

"Naruto?"

For his part, Naruto decided to forget the fact that he was just about to say something very dumb to Sakura. Instead he looked back at the scroll, "So I made it, huh?" He gave a dried laugh. "Funny, I knew I would pass, but I still felt like this", he indicated at the scroll with his head, "would never happen. Stupid, huh?"

Sakura shook her head so fast that it made her dizzy, "It is not stupid, Naruto, and if you are stupid, than so am I." It was now Naruto's turn to be confused. Sakura gave him a smirk and took out her own scroll.

"Sakura!" Naruto's cerulean eyes grew wide. He forgot about his bodily pain for the second time and embraced Sakura, who allowed the embrace. Kami-_sama_knew she needed it. "You are ANBU! You and I - ", he stopped when thought occurred to him."But that means…"

"Yes, Naruto. You will not do this alone. I will be by your side and aid you when you face Uchiha", Naruto frowned when Sakura said Uchiha instead of Sasuke.

"But Sakura, I told you I promised Sasuke-"

"We promised to bring Sasuke back, Naruto", Sakura interjected. Naruto lowered his head in shame. Of course, he remembered the promise of a life time. But what was Sakura playing at? She was there when he told Sasuke that the next time they met, it would be a fight where both would die. He even repeated this to Sakura before he disappeared to train with Yamato and Killer Bee. His question was answered a moment after.

"And we will finally fulfill our promise. We will bring Uchiha back, except we will hunt and kill him first."

* * *

Kakashi watched from the window as the sun was coming out of its slumber and prayed for it to go back to where it was coming from. He wanted the moon to continue ruling over the sky because when sun came out, the mission he had dreaded for days would begin. A part of him felt like he needed to be in the mission. Sasuke had been his pupil after all, and it had been Kakashi who taught him the Chidori. But another part felt relieved. He was relieved that he would not be the one to kill him. It was selfish and perhaps cowardly of him to have such feelings, but Kakashi had accepted them as part of what made him human.

"How long are we going to wait, Lord Hokage?" An impatient Hyuga made Kakashi come back to reality. He, Neji, and Iruka were in the Hokage's tower waiting for the other three members of ANBU Team Ten to arrive. They were two hours late.

"Lord Hokage", it felt strange to Iruka to call Kakashi by that title, but he did it anyway, "should we send someone else to fetch them. Clearly, Sai was not enough."

"I will go". Neji volunteered himself.

"There is no need, Neji. I feel their chakras coming closer", Kakashi informed them. Neji tried to control his impatience by making sure his ninjato and other ANBU gear were properly in place. He hated the uniform since he was unconsumed to tight clothing. But that was a trivial matter that he would have to deal with later. It seemed the only thing missing from his ANBU attire was his porcelain mask. He had yet to receive one. He was about to ask the Hokage for one when three figures appeared right next to him.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sai were dressed in ANBU attire, except for the mask, and they all wore annoyed expressions; although Sai tried to hide it by smiling, but Neji could tell the artist was annoyed by how tight it was.

Kakashi took one look at them and shook his head, "Why are you late?"

Both Naruto and Sakura open their mouths to speak, but Sai beat them to it, "I found them surrounded by sake bottles, sleeping in the hospital bed. Together", he emphasized the last word slowly. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as Sakura hit Sai on the top of his head.

"Nothing happened. You idiot!" Sakura snapped.

"Yeah!" Naruto growled angrily. "Sakura and I would not do that before our marriage", he added, earning from Sakura a nice punch to his cheek. Sakura composed herself and bowed, hiding her blush with the bangs of her short hair, "My deepest apologies, Kakashi-sensei. We didn't mean to be late."

Kakashi sweat dropped as he saw Naruto taking out breath mints from his ANBU pouch, throwing it in his mouth, and checking if he still smelled like sake.

"May I remind you that you two are still underage", both Sakura and Naruto lowered their heads in shame. They knew it was wrong when they stole the bottle from Tsunade's room, but the agony the young shinobi felt after their conversation was too much to bear. They needed a way to escape from it. It was then that Sakura suggested the sake bottle they found in Tsunade's room.

"I once read in a book that people drink to celebrate or to try to forget their misfortunes. It also says good friends drink together. I suppose I am not there yet." Sai's smile remained tight as he said the last part.

"Sai, we already told you we did not mean to drink" Sakura said irritated by the artist. To her side, Neji's eyebrow twitched with annoyance.

"Yeah!" Naruto added "How were we supposed to know that when we went to visit Granny Tsunade, there would be a bottle of Sake next to her bed?"

That was the last draw for Neji, "Enough! If I must listen to these meaningless things, I would rather be transferred to another team."

Naruto look at Neji like he had just noticed he was there. "Neji, you are ANBU?"

"That won't be necessary, Neji. And yes, Naruto, he is ANBU like you", Kakashi said lazily. "In fact, he is your team leader."

"WHAT! Naruto and Sakura yelled in unison.

"No offense, Neji", Sakura said before turning back to Kakashi, "But Kakashi-sensei, wouldn't Sai be a better choice? He has been in it for years."

Kakashi shook his head, "No. Like Naruto, would be the wrong choice." Naruto looked back at Kakashi with an offended expression. "Don't look at me like that Naruto. I am telling you the truth, and I am your superior."

"But how could Sai be a bad choice, sensei?" Sakura asked confused. "He is emotionally challenged but-"

"Actually", Neji interrupted, "his disability to feel and express emotions is a necessary skill for all ANBU, especially for the category of ANBU we are in. We cannot spare the lives of those who we are assigned to kill. We cannot feel pity for them. We cannot feel anything at all."

"Then why is Sai not captain?"

"It is easy, Sakura", Kakashi took over, "and Sai knows this." All eyes turned to the artist. There was no smile on his face. His was neutral. "Sai had been assigned to assassinate Sasuke, yet he didn't. Why?"

Naruto responded, "Because he was trying to protect the bonds between Sasuke and me. But Kakashi-sensei, those bonds are broken."

"I know", Kakashi replied. "I was there remember that last time. But I also know you will not spare Sasuke because of this." Four scrolls appeared on Kakashi's hand. "Take one and read them."

The four ANBU did and what they read horrified them. It was a report on Sasuke. It contained complains against him from various villages, a list of places where he had been sighted with the Akatsuki, a few firsthand accounts of people who had encountered him and lived to tell about it, and a list of his activities since he joined Akatsuki.

"This is…how could he have done this", Sakura's whispered as she read the last contents of the scroll.

"The Shinobi send after him have been killed, and small villages burned to ashes by his Chidori. It is rare for him to leave any survivors. If he does, it is not because he allows it."

Kakashi led that sink before continuing.

"The elders of this village have decided to add Sasuke to the bingo books as you read in the initial report. They are doing it because of Danzo's death. Our allies have done the same. He is now an international criminal."

Neji crossed his arms, "the shinobi world that once regarded him with high hopes and admiration now wants him dead."

Kakashi nodded, "And they are justified. Sasuke's actions justify theirs."

The whole time that Kakashi had been talking Sakura had been remembering her dream. The red sharingan staring with serenity and indifference at the fate they were going to bestow upon those they met.

"Did you look at your victims with those eyes?" Sakura wondered. She looked at Naruto. His face was controlled, but his hands were not. The knuckles of his hands were turning white by the fist he was making. It looked like it was taking all his self-control to prevent him from leaving now and hunting Sasuke down.

"Naruto", Kakashi directed his voice at the blonde ANBU, "I do not doubt you. I know you will carry out your mission. You warned Sasuke that if he came after Konoha you would kill him."

"Where is he?" Naruto asked quietly for some inexplicable reason knowing the answer to his question.

Kakashi went back to his desk and stood behind a medium wooden box. He opened it revealing four different animal masks.

"Four hours ago, I received an urgent message from the shinobi patrolling our borders. They sighted the Akatsuki closing in. I have not received a report ever since. I have sent another team of ANBU to the location."

"What do you want as to do, Lord Hokage", Neji asked picking the mask that would become his new identity.

"I want ANBU Team Ten to hunt its prey!"

* * *

"I want ANBU Team Ten to hunt its prey!" the voice echoed loud enough to awaken Asuka.

"Lord Hokage?" Asuka breathed weakly, opening her eyes. What she saw shocked her. She was drifting down a tunnel of lights. She could hear the voice of the Hokage, but the more she drifted down the tunnel, the more distant it became. Asuka tried to call out, but the effort made her cough out blood. She tried to look down at her body, but it only brought dizziness to her head.

"Where are we?" The children asked sleepily against her cold chest.

Asuka was not given a chance to respond, for at that moment a different voice sounded throughout the tunnel, and what it said chill her to the bone.

"…make sure you kill all of them", the voice ordered. "Make sure you kill everyone in Konoha."

Both children stiffened against her chest.

"Asuka?" the children look up to Asuka, fear dominating their voice.

Two things were clear to Asuka at that moment. One, the voice they heard was close. Two, she had no doubt in her mind that she and the children were closely approaching it. And when they did, she would not be strong enough to stop the disaster that would ensue.

"Sasuke, Itachi. I am sorry."

* * *

The moon shines clearly in the sky as two groups of shinobi are ready to fight. Old teammates reunite with weapons in hand. No more pleadings. No more warnings. The moon is covered in a leaf shinobi's blood.

Next time in Hidden-Leaf Revelations: Welcome Home

A/N: After three weeks of intense editing, the chapters have been revised. It was not fun, but I did it because the readers need a good read. If the story seems confusing after editing, then please know it is suppose to. It is the second chapter. Please review and let me know if the characters are connecting with you. I hope they are not coming out 2D. Furthermore, future chapters may not be this long. Check out my profile for more info on this story and its playlist.

A special thanks to:

Hypnotic Flames

Libith

Maxium

Silver Lone Wolf

TeenageNeko

You readers keep me going


	3. Welcome Home

Disclaimer: oh, the things I would do if Naruto was mine (sighs). Unfortunately, Naruto is not mine. Just this simple fan fiction.

**Welcome Home**

It was a little after dawn and, so far, the day was turning hot.

"_Irritably hot_", Uchiha Sasuke thought as he wiped the running perspire from his face. He had forgotten how hot Konoha was compared to the other lands, with the one exception being-.

"_Suna_", Sasuke through bitterly. Until recently, Sasuke did not harbor any ill feelings towards the village. One encounter with the Kazekage was all it took for Sasuke to hate him and his land. Gaara of the Sand irritated Sasuke, and things that irritated him had to go. The red-headed kage reminded him of the fool Sasuke had been when he was a loyal member of Konoha.

"DIE YOU TRAITOR!"

Sasuke was brought back to the fight in the middle of Konoha's forest. The Akatsuki had long defeated the small forces securing Konoha's border and had been on their way to the village when they encountered the reinforcements sent to help those in the border.

Sasuke lunched forward to meet a Leaf shinobi. It was quickly made clear to the young Uchiha that his opponent was not a challenge for him. Sasuke thought briefly about sparing the man's life, but in that brief moment, the shinobi decided to insult the Uchiha again. Sasuke's face and aura darkened. Without hesitation or a tint of remorse, Sasuke quickly disarmed the man of his weapons with a relatively simple taijutsu move and then slaughtered the man with his kanata. And that is when the best part of killing his opponent happened for Sasuke.

It was not seeing the man draw his last breath or seeing the light in his eyes fade. It was the blood. The sight of blood flowing from his opponent. The sight of it made Sasuke's eyes narrow and his senses sharpened. He could feel power circulating throughout his body. The sensation made him feel invisible and elevated.

But just as fast as the sensation had come, it passed, and it left the Uchiha wishing for more. He bet that if the shinobi had been stronger, the savoring moment would have lasted just a bit longer.

Sasuke looked down at the shinobi, annoyed he had been deprived of his enjoyment.

"Pathetic", he said and walked over the man's body to find his next opponent.

He surveyed the battle field. Cries of pain and metal crashing were heard from all directions. The two opposing forces were crowded in the forest's clearing. There were more Leaf than missing-nin. But numbers did not matter in this battle. The Akatsuki only took the best and most talented of the ninja world. Leaf had more shinobi in the field, but they were usually fighting in groups against only one member of the Akatsuki.

Sasuke spotted a shinobi that looked like a worthy opponent and was about to make his way to him, when his vision began to blurred. He swayed to the left and tried to stop himself from stumbling. When he regained controlled over his body, he brought his hand before his eyes and tried to focus his vision on it. The blurriness did not stop. This could only mean one thing, and it did not make the avenger happy.

"Not now." Sasuke whispered angrily. He felt something moved beside him and stopped staring at his hand.

"Is something wrong, Sasuke?" Uchiha Madara appeared beside the raven-haired Uchiha.

His voice feigning concern, but Sasuke knew better and ignored him. He was the last person Sasuke wanted to see at the moment.

"Is it your vision again?" Madara asked, not minding Sasuke's silence in the least; instead, he seemed to take pleasure in the young Uchiha's situation. "You should have listened to me and taken-"

Sasuke's head shot up and glared at Madara, ignoring the veil of blurriness "No."

"You will go blind without Itachi's eyes", Madara warned, stepping closer towards Sasuke.

"I told you. Not yet!" And In a fit of anger, the young Uchiha sped past Jugo and began to engage in battle with his selected opponent.

"_Not yet_", Sasuke repeated in his head, trying to concentrate his mind in his battle, but failing miserably. The damned heat and Madara made sure of it.

There were two reasons why Madara irritated Sasuke more than the current heat or Gaara of the Sand since he was on the topic. One was the abundant amount of patience the older man seemed to possess. Unlike Sasuke, Madara loved to take his time to plan and execute plans. If it was up to Sasuke, Konoha would have been destroyed the moment after he killed Danzo. It was Madara who convinced Sasuke to wait and recover from the injuries he had sustained during the battle with the Sharingan thief.

Sasuke knew Madara had a point, for his powers were not at their peak. He had fought the Kages and then Danzo, not to mention his little run-in with his former team. Seeing Madara's point, Sasuke decided to wait. But thanks to his waiting, Sasuke was now running out of time.

Reason number two why Madara irritated him: his constant harassment of taking Itachi's eyes.

"I can't. Not yet", Sasuke repeated as his new opponent jumped to the air and released a rain of kunai down at him. But the man's attack never hit the Uchiha, for Sasuke appeared behind him and drove a small chidori into the man. Sasuke's lack of a proper vision prevented the chidori from hitting the intended part of the man's body, but the jutsu was still fatal enough for the man to drop to the floor with a thud.

Sasuke closed his eyes and hoped that when he opened them the blurriness would fade. If it did not, he would just have to depend on his other senses. Taking Itachi's eyes right now was out of the question, and the reason did not have to do with him being in the middle of a forest on his way to invasion.

He could not take Itachi's eyes for the simple reason that the ninja world was yet again in another war. War meant blood, and Itachi had hated both. If he took Itachi's eyes, Sasuke would not just be a foolish brother. He would be an ungrateful one and that he could not be. He would not allow his brother's eyes to see blood again. He owed Itachi that much.

Feeling slightly guilty, Sasuke turned away from the sight of blood and activated his sharingan. He needed to end this meaningless battle now and get to Konoha. The light in his eyes was running out, and before it did he needed to fulfill his role in life: that of an avenger. His role demanded he burned Konoha to ashes along with anyone who got in his way, and once he did, he would rebuild it - in Itachi's vision. Sasuke would build a world that was deserving of Itachi's eyes.

"Oy! Sasuke", Saigetsu yelled from across the battle field, a substitute sword for his previous one resting on his bruised shoulders. "I feel a familiar chakra coming our way."

Sasuke turned to the direction of the incoming chakra and frowned. It was not just one chakra. It was more. So much for ending this battle immediately. "Ignore them," Sasuke ordered and to himself said, "It is just the welcoming committee."

* * *

ANBU Team Ten was not the only team sent by Kakashi out into the battle field. Along with the newly initiated hunter-nins, two dozen elites were sent out. Among them were a handful of Hyuga, Team Kurenai and the remaining members of Team Gai. The rest of Konoha's Eleven were stationed around the village, helping with civilian evacuation or waiting anxiously to see if the Akatsuki got past their forces, again.

The group raced through the forest, pushing their legs to carry them at a fast pace, swinging from trees, and deeply concentrated on their mission. Kakashi had sent his shinobi with explicit orders. They were to kill, if not, delay the enemy. Kakashi was no fool. He knew his forces could not defeat the Akatsuki. For that, they needed all the other shinobi nations. The shinobi deployed were meant to borrow time for the village to fully mobilize all capable fighters and get the message out to their allies. The second part of his orders: only one team could touch Uchiha Sasuke.

"_There are many reasons for Kakashi-sensei's decision. But it all has to do with Naruto_", Sakura reasoned as she went over her orders. "_He knows that by having us engage in battle with Sasuke, we will prevent him from setting a foot in the village. When he is gone, Naruto will be comforted by the idea that he at least prevented Sasuke from spilling civilian blood_." Sakura was now starting to wonder if all along, Naruto had been Kakashi's favorite.

"Damn this heat!" Naruto exclaimed next to Sakura. "That bastard just had to go and pick the hottest day to invade."

Sakura turned to Naruto and noted with surprise how controlled he was, considering their situation. It was not every day that one set out to kill one's best friend. She could not see his face behind the fox mask he wore, but his body language was composed and his chakra stable. Maybe he had truly matured. In the past, a situation such as this one would have driven him to lose his mind and to spout out a chakra tail or two.

"Hey, you two", Neji appeared beside Naruto's left, followed by Sai. "A word."

"What is it, Neji? Do you see the Akatsuki? " Naruto asked without taking his eyes from the front.

"Code names, loud-mouth", Neji said patiently, shaking his head in disapproval. He quietly asked if it was too much to ask for teammates that shared with him the same views on shinobi rules.

"What for? It isn't as if Sasuke won't recognize us the moment he feels our chakra." Apparently, it was too much to ask.

"We still need to follow procedure", Neji sternly reminded him. "And it would do you good to remember to cover your chakra."

"I knew that", Naruto grumbled quietly, but Sakura's sighed as she felt Naruto cover his chakra. Great, Sasuke knew who was coming.

"This is mostly a question for you and Pinky", again Sakura sighed this time in annoyance and defeat. Why in the world did Neji allowed Sai to pick their code names? She suppose it was better than Ugly, but surely there were better code names than physical or attitudinal characteristics.

"I need to know how you are going to take care of Sasuke. There are four of us and one Uchiha." Neji asked. Sakura immediately flinched at the question. The heat in her cheeks rose along with her temper.

"**Oh, no, he didn't! That arrogant Hyuga**" Inner Sakura fumed from inside Sakura's conscience, jumping to the first conclusion she could think of. "**Do you have an idea of what he means**?"

"What do you mean, 'how'?" Sakura testily asked, getting what inner-Sakura was referring to and feeling a little insulted by her captain. Obviously, he doubted their abilities. Her abilities since Naruto had proven himself long ago. He did manage to defeat Pain.

Sensing Sakura's temper and quickly understanding why Neji added patiently, "I am not referring to your power. You and Loud-Mouth are the students of two of the Legendary Sannin, but understand this. You two had the opportunity to kill the Uchiha and failed. Now you are having another chance."

Sakura could feel Neji's accusing eyes despite the fact that they were wearing masks. They made her uncomfortable and slightly guilty.

"Naruto said it himself when you three came back from Iron. He cannot kill Sasuke. So how will you take care of him when you can't defeat him?"

Sakura's hands formed into tight fists. She was really getting tired of feeling or other people feeling that she and Naruto were not good enough to kill Sasuke because of their previous relationship with him. She knew it was their fault. Their loyal heart tended to get in the way, but this time they were prepared both mentally and physically. They were ready. They had to be. Sakura opened her mouth to answer, but the voice that responded to Neji's questioned was not her own.

"It's true", Naruto finally spoke up. While Sakura and Neji had exchange words, he had been deep in thought, probably feeling too guilty to talk. "I said all that." He paused, and then continued lowering his voice to a soft whisper, "I said it thinking I would die in battle with Sasuke or by his hand the next time we met."

Neji and Sai were caught off guard. Sakura heard someone behind her fall from a tree branch and a dog yelp in pain, but she ignored it. All her attention was focused on Naruto: the closest person to her in this world. His revelation did not come as a shock to her. She had known of Naruto's plan all along. She was there when he had made his decision and declared it to Sasuke after all. It had been a reason why she had spent many nights during her ANBU training thinking of ways to prevent Naruto from dying.

She was going to lose Sasuke, but she would not loose Naruto. Not if she could stop it. But by the sound of it, it seemed her plan would not need. Naruto's next words hinted it.

"Things have changed. I can't die without taking care of some unfinished business." The happiness and relief that exploded inside Sakura's heart almost made her want to hug her teammate. He said it! He said he wanted to live. Sakura smiled widely to herself. She would still have her friend.

"Unfinished business?" Sai asked curiously. He turned to Sakura to get an explanation about what Naruto was talking about, but she shrugged her shoulders pretending not to know anything. She knew what Naruto's unfinished business was. He had told her about it during their "slumber party" as Sai called it. But now was not the time to tell their teammates about Uchiha Madara and his role in the Nine Tails' attack. It was not the time, and it was not her place.

"**After we take care of Sasuke, the other sneaky Uchiha bastard will get what is coming to him. Courtesy of my fits. Cha**!"

"Actually, Sai, you and the captain here will hold off Uchiha Madara while Sakura and I take care of Sasuke first. I know it is against orders but…" Naruto trailed off, knowing Neji got the point.

Neji remained quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about what Naruto had just said. Sakura knew that Neji believed that Naruto was special in that sense that whatever he promised to do, he always succeeded at. But Naruto had failed to retrieve Sasuke three times already. It was a gamble to allow Naruto to take on Sasuke with just her by his side. Would Neji trust Naruto again?

Moments turned to seconds. Seconds turned to minutes, until Neji finally spoke.

"Fine", Neji sighed and with a commanding voiced announced, "Team Ten will be divided. You two will take care of Sasuke. Sai and I will make sure the other Uchiha doesn't interfere." He then turned mid-way and warned, "But if you fail, your chance will be mine."

"Don't worry, Captain", Naruto said cheerfully. "Sakura and I have a plan."

"You better", Neji muttered and he left them to check on the other shinobi. Sakura wished he hadn't because in that moment her nerves began to take over her. She could feel her stomach turning in anticipation. The palms of her hands began to sweat. She was on her way to killing Uchiha Sasuke. One of the most talented shinobi Konoha had produced.

Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to Naruto.

"Sakura", Naruto whispered so only she could her. "Don't worry."

"I am not worrying", Sakura snapped a little too harshly. She immediately regretted it. If she was feeling insecure, she wondered how Naruto was feeling at the moment. She wanted to slap herself for having a weak spine, and Inner-Sakura offered to do it. Why in the world could she not keep a hold on the courage she had earlier? Her resolution was still there. Intact. But her courage was fleeting. She was actually scared. Scared of Sasuke and his sharingan. Both capable of taking everything away from her.

"**Hey….HEY! Don't you dare back down now**", her inner-self yelled furiously at her. "**Come on, now it's your chance to show that Uchiha what a true prodigy is made of. Think of the innocents he killed**", then inner Sakura added menacingly, "**Do I need to show you more memories of Sasuke trying to kill us? Because believe me, I got plenty**."

"Earth to Sakura", Naruto said loudly, snapping his pink-haired teammate from her thoughts.

"What?" Sakura said.

"I said that you don't need to worry", Naruto said again.

"And I said I'm not worrying", Sakura repeated.

Sakura heard Naruto laughed at her, "Look, just to stick to the plan we talked about earlier in the village. You and I can't go wrong with my amazing ransengan and your amazing monster strength."

Sakura's fist connected with Naruto's head. The blonde's hands instantly went up to where he had been hit, cringing in pain.

"OWW, SAKURA!"

"Thank you", Sakura said softly. She was touched by Naruto's words to mind too much about the "monster strength comment."

* * *

Sasuke was waiting for them. He had been waiting for them the moment he felt their chakra. How could he forget the light and comforting chakra that radiated from his former teammates? In the past, when they were still a team, he liked having them near him, even do he would never publicly admit. Their chakra, presence, and the smiles they gave him made him want to be like them. Happy and naïve about the ways of the world. Obviously he realized their stupid ways would not work out for him, so he turned his back on them.

As Sakura and Naruto's chakra got closer, Sasuke noticed something was off about Naruto's. He could not pin-point exactly what was different about it, but his chakra felt lighter than the last time they faced each other.

"_Interesting_", Sasuke thought, getting up from the rock he had been resting on. He blinked his eyes, testing them for any blurriness or other signs of his eyes going blind. It would complicate things if his vision was impaired during his battle with his former teammates.

Sasuke saw them. He saw a large group of shinobi appeared from the shadows' of the trees. He could feel the superior power they possessed compared to the one wielded by the current Leaf shinobi in the battle field. Sasuke was not surprised by the difference in power. The new group was made of jonin and a couple of ANBU.

He narrowed his eyes the moment they landed on a particular group of ANBU. They were positioned in front of the group. There were four of them. Three men and one woman. And he knew who they were. Their chakra signatures plus the ridiculous coloring of their hair were all that he needed.

"Konoha's standards have gone down if you two have been made ANBU. But then again, they made Kakashi Hokage, so I should not surprise", he lazily mocked.

Sasuke saw one of the shinobi in the front, wearing a tiger's mask, raise his hand. Finally, no more waiting. Sasuke placed his hand on the tilt of his sword, but all the shinobi did was dropped it down in a signal. The shinobi behind his team dispersed, leaving the four with Sasuke.

"Standards change like people do, Uchiha", Sasuke recognized Sakura's voiced. He noted there was no fear in her voice. No stutter or trembling. It was not like the last time he saw her. This made him wonder if his former teammates had changed their minds about him. Had they realized he would not leave the path that was chosen for him? Sasuke doubted, but he still wanted to make sure.

Sasuke gave them a smirk, "I doubt you two have change. Why did you bother making it to ANBU? To bring me back?" Suddenly, the previous control he had over his patience began to wither away. Anger began to rise within him. He was running out of time and his pathetic, former teammates were blocking his way.

"I told you I won't go back!" Sasuke growled at them and released a stream of chidori towards the ANBU team. The four ANBU swiftly jumped to the air and avoided the fast moving electricity. Sasuke made hand signals for his fireball, but, just when he inhale the air required, he was forced to quickly exhale. He felt his ribs crack against the pressure of someone's fist. He lowered his eyes just to have them widen in surprise.

"Don't be so self-centered", Sakura said. He could feel her smile behind her cat's mask as she added, "Who is weak now?"

* * *

Sakura's pleasure of finally landing a blow on Sasuke was short-lived. The second she finished her sentence, Sasuke turned into a log. Sakura and the others wasted no time. They immediately drew back to back and surveyed the field for any sign of the missing Uchiha.

"Now what is going on here?"

Sakura and Naruto's eyes went directly to none other than Madara himself. The orange-masked man stood in front of them. One hand was resting on his waist while the other dropped the body of a shinobi. Sakura narrowed her eyes. It was him, the man responsible for all their misfortunes.

Naruto begin to tremble next to her with fury at seeing the man who was the source of all his misery. Sasuke appeared beside the other Uchiha and glared at the ANBU team, especially at Sakura. Despite their situation, Sakura felt light with pleasure. She had surprised him.

"What is wrong Sasuke? Offended I caught you?" She smirked just like she had seen him do in the past whenever he was pleased with himself.

Madara turned to Sasuke and pointed at them, "Sasuke. It's your teammates." Sasuke ignored the man next to him and continued to glare.

"You!" Naruto growled and took one step closer to Madara. Sakura quickly grabbed Naruto's shoulder, trying to hold him back.

"Naruto! Remember, mission before personal business", Sakura reminded him. She needed Naruto to focus, but it was not working. He trembled more as he tried to contain his fury. She needed to be more persuasive, so she pleaded in a whisper, "Sasuke comes first."

This seemed to work. Naruto stopped trembling, but, instead, became tense. Sakura felt sorry for him. She recalled what he had told her hours before. The pain in his face made her heart swell. Madara was the reason why Naruto had no parents. Sakura was positively sure that if their situations were reversed she too would feel like struggling the man.

"Right, Sasuke comes first", Naruto echoed and created five shadow clones. The clones positioned themselves close to Sakura and Naruto. "Let's do this!"

Team Ten and Naruto's clones ran towards the two Uchiha. Sakura concentrated her chakra to her fist and drove it down to the ground. The ground splinted into pieces of rocks. Sasuke and Madara were forced to jump from their positions to avoid Sakura's wake of destruction. Neji and Sai took the opportunity to attack Madara.

Sakura had no time to see if Sai's attack worked. Sasuke chose that moment to attack her from behind, his sword drawn and threatening to stab her.

"Not this time", Sakura thought. She took a kunai concealed inside her arm guard and blocked Sasuke's attack. The two metals clashed. Sakura met Sasuke's intense, onyx eyes. She felt like she was drowning in the hate and darkness in them.

"You gotten stronger", Sasuke remarked as Sakura struggled with the weight of his sword. It was inches from her face. "But not strong enough to defeat me", Sasuke said and release another chidori current that traveled from his body to his sword. Sakura cursed while she dropped her kunai. She had forgotten one of Sasuke's favorite tricks. She jumped several steps backwards, but the chidori continued following her. There was nowhere to run. There was only place to act.

"Damn! This better work."

Without a moment to loose, Sakura dropped to one knee and placed both her palms in front of her. She forced her chakra to concentrate in her palms. The green chakra erupted from her palms and created a shield at the exact moment that Sasuke's chidori reached her.

The impact of the chidori against her shield almost threw Sakura off, but she put more pressure on her knee and foot, effectively surviving the attack.

As Sasuke ran towards her, Sakura got ready for the attack. She rose to her feet. She sent more chakra to her fist and was about to drive it to the floor when something sped past her.

"Get away from her you bastard!" Naruto and his clones yelled collectively and lunched at Sasuke, each with a rasengan in hand. It seemed they had been busy making the spiral balls while she had been fighting Sasuke.

They ambushed Sasuke, but Sasuke grabbed one of the clone's hands - with the rasengan - and directed it to another clone, which disappeared the moment the rasengan touched him. He did the same with two other clones. Naruto and his last clone jumped at Sasuke with their rasengan. One of the rasengan grazed Sasuke's shoulder, but the other spiral sphere he was able to dodge and flew past Sasuke straight towards Sakura.

It is said that most brilliant plans are created when the person who creates them is in a tight spot, and Sakura's case was not an exception. A thought occurred to Sakura just then. The probability of it working was low, but she took a chance.

Once again she directed chakra to the palm of her hands.

"_Please work_", Sakura prayed as the rasengan came straight to her. She kept her eyes locked on it and was able to catch it using her hands.

Sakura gritted her teeth as Naruto's jutsu burned her hands, but pushing away the pain, she sprinted towards Sasuke, while maintaining the rasengan alive with her chakra. The burning sensation continued, and she thought at every second that she ran, the jutsu would come outdone or that Sasuke would notice her coming behind him.

"Come on. Just a bit closer", the rasengan made contact with Sasuke's back. He was send flying towards the nearest tree, creating a cloud of dust around him.

"Sakura!" Naruto appeared beside her. His voice containing pure awe at the fact that she had just used his own attack to hurt Sasuke. Sakura too was shocked. Her stupid idea had actually worked. If she continued working on her jutsu, maybe just maybe…

The dust around began to clear and Sakura saw Sasuke was not looking too please. His infamous Uchiha glare became more profound.

"Keep your eyes on him, Naruto", Sakura said weakly as she saw Sasuke get up from the floor. His eyes began to change from black to crimson.

"Those eyes", Sakura felt her heart began to beat faster than before. The palms of her arms started to sweat, but she was not hot. On the contrary, her body was cold with fear. Images of what those eyes had accomplished flashed through her mind.

"**Don't be afraid. It just means we pissed him off or he is taking us seriously. Take your pick**", Inner-Sakura crackled her fist.

* * *

Sasuke touched his mouth with his hand. Blood. Sakura had actually managed to injure him to the point of drawing blood. What's was more was both Sakura and Naruto were keeping up with him. Naruto was not a surprise, but Sakura? Maybe she had become stronger. She no longer was the weakling hiding behind her teammates it seemed.

Sasuke stood up and activated his sharingan for the second time that day. He looked up and saw Sakura standing next to Naruto like an equal. His eyes brows furrowed.

The two people who he had shaped strong bonds with stood in front of him ready to kill him. Naruto. Sakura. His brother. The girl who loved him. They who made him feel happy just by being neared them.

They needed to die.

"So it comes to this. You do intend to keep your promise after all, Naruto", Sasuke said as he recalled the latest promise Naruto made to him.

Despite their distance, Sasuke saw the blonde nod his head, "It seems this is the only promise I can keep, but…" Naruto stopped. Sasuke waited for him to continue. It was the last time he would see his former teammates. The least he could do was let them speak their minds before he killed them.

"You are my friend!" Naruto half-yelled at him. Sasuke raised his brow slightly. Not this again. His friend was going to once again give him the speech he always did whenever he saw him. The speech he always gave about how they were brothers and how he could help Sasuke. But Sasuke was once again wrong.

"And you must die. How could you Sasuke?" Sasuke noticed that Naruto was once again struggling to control himself. "How could you kill all those innocent people?"

Sasuke felt nothing as Naruto continued his accusations. He wanted to avert his eyes, but he forced them to remain in place. Yes, he remembered the faces of all the villagers he encountered. How the mothers tried to frantically protect their children from the Akatsuki, and how they looked at him begging for mercy. Sasuke did nothing to save them. He allowed Madara to do what he pleased. He shut down all his emotions and tried not to compare those massacres with the one of his clan. The only thing he did after all were killed was use his jutsu to destroy the village, so he could pretend nothing ever happened.

But now, Sasuke could not forget. Naruto was demanding an answer, and an answer the Uchiha gave. He could have said nothing at all. But he felt compelled to do so; he wanted Sakura and Naruto to think the worse of him because if they did, it would make it easier for him to kill them.

Looking directly at them, raising his chin slightly, and smirking, Sasuke said, "I did it because I could. I killed them because of a whim."

The reaction he wanted was immediate. Naruto made the first move. He conjured two clones and disappeared. Sasuke felt Naruto's chakra coming towards him. He jumped up to the nearest tree branch to avoid Naruto's fuma shuriken.

"Hey!" Sasuke looked above and was met with Sakura's foot to the face. He collapsed to the floor by the impact. Sakura and one of Naruto's clones followed him.

Once on the floor, they engaged in taijustu. Naruto's clones quickly disappeared since taijutsu was never Naruto's forte. The only ones left were Sakura and Sasuke. It quickly became apparent that Sakura was adept in the art. She avoided Sasuke's attacks effortlessly. While it took effort for Sasuke's to avoid hers. Sasuke was careful to avoid her fist, now knowing the damage they could do.

Sakura lunched at Sasuke, kunai in her hand. Sasuke saw her coming, but in that moment his vision began to blur again. The blurriness made Sasuke reflexes slow enough for him to not fully avoid Sakura's kunai. The kunai slashed the side of his body. Gritting his teeth and furious, Sasuke caught Sakura by her arm, shocked her with his Chidori, and whirled her to the other side of the field.

"Sakura!" Sasuke heard Naruto's voice. He had enough. His mangekyou sharingan swirled to life as he conjured his chidori, and turned to face Naruto. Sasuke's eyes widened momentarily.

Naruto was facing him with another rasengan in hand. His fox mask was no longer in place. Sasuke could see that his cerulean eyes were replaced by a golden-like color, and their exterior was surrounded by red circles.

"This seems familiar, eh, Sasuke?"

"Except this time, you mean to kill me. Isn't right?" Sasuke said, a bit of mockery at the end.

Naruto nodded, "Belive me. I don't want to do it, but you have gone too far. I can't save you", Naruto said softly.

Sasuke was caught off guard and pissed off by Naruto's statement for various reasons. Naruto was giving up on him. He had never seen Naruto give up on anything before. Secondly, he was pissed off that Naruto thought he, Sasuke, needed to be saved. Then, he was pissed off more because that is what he wanted from the very beginning. He wanted his teammates to give up on him.

"Tch, let's get this over with, Naruto. I have a village to destroy, and you're just wasting my time."

Sakura saw them: Naruto and Sasuke. Concentration and determination carved into their faces as they ran with their jutsu in hand.

"No" Sakura thought. This scene had happened before. She was going to lose both if she did not intervene. She got up from the floor and ran. Ran like there was no tomorrow.

There was a tremble; A tremble that almost knocked Sakura off her feet. She looked to where Sasuke and Naruto were. They were still running towards each other, oblivious to what was going on around them unlike Sakura. Something behind them caught her eye. A tree was glowing blue until light exploded from it.

Sakura shut her eyes close, blinded by the light. "What is going on?" She tried to opened her eyes and see what was going on. Initially, it was difficult but she was able to distinguish forms flying from inside the tree.

Sasuke did not notice the tree until he was blinded by the light erupting from it. Even with his eyes close, he could still see light. He felt something fly past between him and Naruto. It had brushed against the tip of the elbow he was using to cover his face. He slowly opened his eyes and saw something pink.

"_Sakura_?" he monetarily thought when a sharp pain shot throughout his body. He touched the spot where the pain was radiating from and winced. Sakura had done a number on him. Had she poison the blade she used? His thought was distracted by the sound of something heavy falling in front of him.

Sasuke saw the light vanished and tried to see more clearly, but the pain that was currently surging throughout his body brought him to his knees.

"I think is time for us to go, Sasuke", Madara said next to him.

NO!" Sasuke growled trying to get up, and failing. Damn. Sasuke's breathing began to heave. He couldn't leave. He needed to destroy Konoha. If he didn't, Itachi would not be avenged. He had sacrificed everything for this day.

"It is obvious your plan has-", Madara abruptly stopped. Sasuke tried to see what made him stop, but just then he started to feel faint. He struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Now what do we have here", Madara said. The tone of his voice sending shills running down Sasuke's spine. He felt Madara pick something from the ground and tried to see what it was, but in that moment he lost the battle, and unconscious descended upon him.

The last thing he remembered hearing was Naruto's loud voice.

"Oh, no! You are not escaping from me you bastard!"

* * *

The blinding light was beginning to fade. Sakura dropped her arm from her eyes and, after her eyes adjusted, looked around. The only members of Akatsuki in the field were the ones lying on the floor dead. Konoha's forces looked around each other, trying to find an explanation for what had just occurred, but it was plainly obvious. The Akatsuki had made a run for it.

"He escaped", Sakura's lips tightened and hung her head. "I let him escape."

"**Never mind that**", Inner-Sakura reprimanded. "**Where is Naruto**?"

Sakura quickly spotted him. He was standing on the same spot she had last seen Sasuke standing on. His back was to her. She rushed to his side and upon approaching him; she noticed he was holding something away from him.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked hesitantly, stopping a few feet away from him. His shoulders were shaking. Was he crying? Sakura wondered.

"I am sorry, Sakura. I let him get away", Naruto began. His voice was a mixture of anger and incredulity. Sakura wanted to tell Naruto that is was fine. That she too had let the Uchiha escape, but her teammate continued rumbling on.

"I guess Neji will get his turn now. But you see. I thought it was him. I truly thought I had Sasuke."

Sakura became concerned, "Naruto, what are you talking about?"

"I mean. How many people you know have hair shaped like...like…LIKE A CHICKEN-", Naruto yelled and turned to face Sakura.

Sakura's eyes widened. Over the years, there were numerous times when she questioned her sanity, and it seem those times always involved the youngest of the Uchiha. Who in the right mind would continue to have feelings for a criminal?

But she was not crazy. Sakura always came to this conclusion. But once again, she was questioning her sanity. Maybe, just maybe, she was crazy because how could she explain Naruto holding a child by the back of his cloak, and that child looking like a younger version of Uchiha Sasuke.

"**Yep, YOU are crazy**", inner-Sakura whispered.

Having lost Sasuke again, the young ANBU return to the village, but not empty-handed. Questions surface about the identity of the child who looks like their lost friend. Who is he and where did he came from? Traditions are retaken, friendships are strengthened, and new obstacles arise.

* * *

Next time in HIDDEN-LEAF REVELATIONS: ALLIES

A/N: I wanted to end this chapter in a semi-comical way. I took a long time to update this chapter because I have no experience with fighting scenes. Hope they were to your satisfaction. I loved writing Sasuke. Here he is just a walking contradiction, and his angst!

Just like before, I would like to thank the people who have reviewed, subscripted, and are following me and my story. This chapter was dedicated to you all. Please review and share your thoughts with me. Do you know why Gaara irritates Sasuke? Who do you think the child is? Do you have any guesses to where this story is going? How I am doing with the characters? I welcome with open arms any suggestions on how to improve my story, if you feel it needs improvement. If there are grammatical errors, I am willing to correct them for you.

Check out my page for information about the status of the next chapter or its playlist.


	4. Allies

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Allies**

Sakura's eyes widened and froze as she continued to doubt her sanity.

"**What the hell**" Inner Sakura said in disbelief.

"_I second that", _Sakura thought weakly. She was pretty sure that her eyes looked like they were sticking out of their eyes sockets.

"SEE…he does…he does lo – look like -" Naruto tried to get the words out, but found his breathing was constricted. He felt faint. He truly thought it was Sasuke he taken a hold of. He never imagined it would be a child he caught instead.

But then something occurred to him. He looked closely at the child – boy - to be more precise. He did have raven colored hair with that odd shape at the back and light colored skin just like in his childhood memories of him…maybe he did capture Sasuke after all.

Now that he thought about it, strange events did tend to happen where he lived. So it was possible.

Suddenly, Naruto's body felt lighter. Hope raced throughout his veins like a wildfire in a forest. Theories of what occurred began to take shape in his mind, but, before he could vocalize them to Sakura, his legs gave out, taking the boy down with him.

"Naruto!" Sakura move forward, stretching out her hands to catch her teammate and landing on her knees with both boys in arms.

"Naruto, are you hurt?" Sakura scrutinized every inch of his body. Naruto was not looking at her though. He had his cerulean eyes fixed on the unconscious child resting soundlessly in Sakura's arm.

"It was the light, Sakura", Naruto said slowly as though in a trance. "The strange light coming from the tree transformed Sasuke. We can take him…back."

Sakura shifted her glance to the boy and considered what Naruto had said. The boy did look like Sasuke, explaining her initial reaction, but now that she looked at him closely…she was not too convinced it was him. There was something off, but she could not pinpoint it, and it had nothing to do with his eyes being covered by oil.

"_Oil?" _

Frowning, she touched it. It felt thick and slimy. She brought it to her nose and smelled it. There was no distinctive smell to it. Some of it had slipped down his round cheek. Sakura touched the soft skin. It was cold and wet like he had been crying. A piece of the puzzle that was boy's identity was discovered.

"Naruto, I'm sorry. But this boy is not Uchiha." The Uchiha Sasuke they both knew would never cry in public, especially in front of Naruto and in the midst of an invasion. It was just not the Uchiha style.

"But Sakura look at him" Naruto protested, getting up from her arms. He had not noticed the traces of tears in the boy's cheek. He was so enveloped with hope; he was ignoring the obvious.

"Listen Naruto, this boy should not be here. It's too dangerous for him. We should find Neji and Sai instead of wasting time arguing whether this boy is or is not Uchiha", Sakura said while moving her mystic palm over the boy. Her frown deepened as the substance covering the boy's eyes refused to dissolve.

"Naruto?" she looked to him when she didn't hear his objections.

"I am stupid aren't I?" Naruto asked quietly. Sakura softened her eyes, understanding where Naruto was going with his question.

"No, you aren't. You are just too optimistic. Don't be ashamed for wanting to believe in what is impossible."

Naruto shook his head, guilt engulfing him and making him want to sink to the floor. "I made a commitment to kill Sasuke, Sakura. But here I am, wishing this boy was him, so we can be friends again."

"**Sakura, do something!" **

Sakura beckoned Naruto to come closer and when he did, she reached for his chin and looked at him pointedly. Naruto's cheeks turned red at the contact. "Answer me this. When you fought him, did you hesitate for a second?"

"No", Naruto replied.

"Neither did I", Sakura suddenly grinned, proud of herself and Naruto. "These things take time, but I think we are getting better. Don't you think?"

Naruto lowered his head and nodded. "What is that?" asked pointing at the boy's eyes.

"I don't know", Sakura admitted. "Another reason why we need to go. He needs proper medical attention."

As Sakura stood up, the boy in her arms stirred. She thought for a moment that he was waking up, but the boy only snuggled closer to Sakura. Sakura looked down at the boy with a hint of red on her cheeks. She was not really good with children. For some reason or another, they did not like her too much. It probably had to do with her temper and witnessing Naruto get beat up by her around the village.

The leaves of the forest rustled. Units of medical-nin began arrive and wasted no time to heal those who could be saved and direct other shinobi to take the dead.

One group of medical-nin caught her attention. They were a couple of feet from them and surrounding an ANBU operative. Sakura felt drawn to the group and made her way to them with the boy still in her arms.

"Sakura, wait. Where are you going?" Naruto trailed after her.

"It's not working. She is losing too much blood! " they heard one medical-nin hissed in frustration.

"Her wounds are too deep. The chakra needed…I don't think even Tsunade could save her", at the mention of her teacher's name Sakura spoke.

"Let me try", the medical-nin parted as Sakura handed the boy to Naruto. The blonde received the boy as if he was a precious artifact that could be broken.

Sakura got on her knees and surveyed her patient. The ANBU operative was a woman. The medic-nin was right she was losing too much blood. Most of it came from a slice in her abdomen.

"**They are right, you know.** **Look at the wounds and where they are located.**"

"_That is not helpful_", Sakura snapped. This was no good. She needed to calm herself.

Sakura inhale and exhale deeply. Her concentration was transported into one place. All thoughts of Sasuke were erased. She only thought of saving the woman's life. Her hand began to glow green.

She looked closely at the woman. She appeared to be in her early twenties. As she pressed her mystic palm to the most critical wound, Sakura could not shake off the feeling that she knew her.

"Who is she?" Sakura asked the closest medic-nin.

"I don't have her in the roaster given to us by the Hokage", the Medic-nin replied slowly as he looked at a clipboard.

Sakura tried to match the level of chakra transported to the woman with the severity of her injury. But her chakra was not making a difference. The woman's natural healing process was not accelerating as it should. Sakura released more chakra and commanded the other medic-nin that had remained with her to do the same.

"S-stop", a weak hand seized Sakura's arm. She looked to the owner and was surprised to see two pair of golden eyes staring back at her.

"It's of no use", the woman's voice sounded ragged. She was so pale Sakura thought she looked already looked like a corpse. An unsettling feeling formed at the pit of Sakura's stomach.

"What is your name?" Sakura asked camly, trying to help the woman focus on something other then the pain she was in.

"The children?" the woman asked instead, gasping for air.

"_Children_?"

Sakura's eye brows contracted. She discreetly looked around the field. As far as she could tell, there was only one child.

"They are here. My teammate has them." Sakura lied, praying the woman could not see Naruto.

"Are they…are they hurt?" the woman asked without making a move to see if Sakura was telling her the truth.

"Don't worry about them. What unit do you belong to?"

"Answer me!" the woman coughed up blood. Seeing the sight of it, made Sakura panicked.

"They are. They are unconscious at the moment, but safe".

This seemed to calm the woman. She focused her eyes on Sakura and despite the pain she was in, a small smile formed in her face. A smile that was only reserved for friends.

Suddenly, her smile froze as she realized something. She tightened her grip on Sakura's arm. She moved her body an attempt to sit up, but the pain of the effort send her back to the ground.

"The children – they need to get out."

"What?" That was unexpected.

"Save…save Itachi and-"

_Itachi_? The image of the Sasuke's older brother flashed in Sakura's mind. But as far as she knew, he was dead. Didn't the woman know?

"What does he have to do with this?"

The woman shut her eyes as the deteriorating pain inside her body became unbearable.

"ARGH!" she screamed. Sakura summoned more chakra and pressed it to the woman's wound.

"Stay with me!" Sakura commanded.

"Listen to me", the woman tugged Sakura's hand to bring her closer and when their faces were mere inches from each other, to the point where Sakura feel her breath on her face, she whispered: "Those children they n-need–", the woman gasped again.

"Don't strain yourself", Sakura said and wondered where this sudden strength had come from.

"Protection. Don't let him get to them", she pleaded.

Sakura was extremely confused.

"Who are you?"

"Promise me" the woman pleaded again, her grip already weakening.

Sakura held her gaze, searching for something that would let her know what the hell was going on. The golden eyes held no hint of fear. There was only determination. A small flame burning against the encroaching darkness. Sakura's throat tightened. This woman was near death, yet the she was not afraid for herself or death.

Fine. Sakura could not save the woman's life, but she could fulfill her dying wish.

"I promise."

The woman closed her eyes, finally getting what she desperately wanted. The medics around Sakura stopped their flow of chakra, understanding what was going to happen and moved onto other injured shinobi.

The sun started to gradually slide away from the center of the sky. It was not long before the woman's heart stopped beating, and she exhaled her last breath.

Sakura gently laid the woman's head on the ground and looked at her. She looked so peaceful. Like she was sleeping. Death was something Sakura always saw in her line of profession. She rarely cried when she lost a patient because she realized there was no use in crying. But without realizing it, a single tear rolled down Sakura's cheek and landed on top of the woman's hand.

"Who were you?"

* * *

Sakura waited along with her recently-bandaged team on the bench outside the Hokage's office. No one was talking, not even Naruto. He was sitting quietly next to Sakura, twirling his ANBU mask around his finger. Neji did not even bother to escold Naruto. The shame and guilt that was consuming their team was too much for them to bear and talking only made it worse.

After the death of the ANBU, Sai appeared with Neji leaning against him for support. Not one minute passed before they sighted the little boy in Naruto's arms. At first, Sakura thought that Neji was going to attack, seeing as he activated his byakugan, and was ready to throw herself in between Neji and the boy.

"It's not him", was all Neji said before ordering his team to head back to the village. This is where things went more downhill then they already had.

Sakura could not forget her promise to the woman. She promised to help the children, but how could she help them when one of them was missing? So naturally, she could not leave without scouting the place for the missing child. She tried to explain this to her leader, but it didn't matter to Neji. His main priority was to promptly report to the Hokage. So an argument with the Hyuga ensued.

Personally, Sakura liked Neji. She found him to be incredibly skillful as a Shinobi and understanding. She was certain he would agree to search for a child who had been trapped in a battlefield. It appeared that Madara hit Neji in the head because he was acting like jerk.

This is when the name calling and blame started. Needless to say, her team was nowhere near to getting the team unity award. But in the end, her argument with Neji and her search were futile. There was not a single trace of the other child. It did not help Sakura that she had no idea what the child looked like and what she was suppose to look for.

Sakura then got more on Neji's bad side when she suggested taking the child she did have to the hospital. It was not entirely her fault. Despite the boy not being Sasuke and the former being unconscious, Naruto felt a sense of attachment towards the boy and had refused to hand him over to any medic-nin. He would be the one to take him.

Sensing the murderous aura that Neji was emanating, Sai intervened by pointing out to Neji that while they were checking-in the boy, Neji could be examined by a "real" doctor because he doubted Sakura would treat him properly now that he upset her. This earned Sai a good smack on the head from Sakura.

The door to the Hokage's office opened and Kakashi's head poked out from behind it. His hair looked disheveled and sleep deprived.

"Alright, I'm ready for you guys."

Sakura and her team filed in and aligned themselves before the new Hokage. Since the last time they had been here – which was just a couple of hours ago – the Hokage's office had become a mess. There were piles upon piles of paperwork on Kakashi's desk and on the surrounding floor. No doubt they were reports from the Shinobi that had been out in the field with Akatsuki.

Kakashi went around the desk, sat on the chair, and moved some of the papers to get a better view of the team. He nodded at Neji to begin with the briefing.

"The mission was failure."

Sakura tried hard to not feel ashame of herself, but failed miserably. What she wanted the most right now was to go the nearest mountain she could find, dig a hole, and hide inside it.

There was a pause before Kakashi spoke. "Explain yourself."

"It was my fault, sir." Both Naruto and Sakura stiffened as Neji took the blame. But only one remained quiet.

"That is not true!" Naruto intervened. Sakura closed his eyes. Neji would not be happy.

"Naruto!" Neji exclaimed just as Sakura expected. "I am your team leader. Every mistake that you make is my mistake. Now, be quiet or I will have to throw you out of the room."

"If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have failed."

"He is right, Naruto", Kakashi calmly said as he brought his hands before him and placed his chin over them.

"Every mistake you guys make falls on Neji as team leader. Team Ten failed its mission to kill Sasuke but don't be too hard on yourselves. I didn't expect you to succeed on killing Sasuke on your first day. I just wanted you to delay him."

"Huh?" They all gaped at Kakashi.

"**He does know we could have been killed, right?" Inner-Sakura shook her fist.**

"You four just got promoted. Despite how talented this team is, it would be a mistake to think you would complete this mission in one day. Instead of feeling ashame or irritated, you four should feel proud."

"Of what?" Naruto asked blankly.

They could all see that behind his mask, the Hokage was grinning at them. His visible eye tinkled with approval.

"You prevented the village from been invaded, and now I don't have to worry about reconstructing the village. That is one less task for me take care of and more time to focus on other things." Team Ten did not miss how Kakashi looked longingly at the nearest drawer in his desk.

"He will never change. Will he?" Naruto whispered to Sakura with a deadpanned face, both knowing there was a certain book hidden inside the drawer. Sakura hung her head, wearing the same expression as Naruto. Was this man really supposed to be the Hokage? She shuddered to think what Kakahi and Tsunade's predecessors were like.

"Now that this matter is settled, I do want to talk about the child and the ANBU operative I heard your team found. Tell me everything you know about them."

"Sakura", Neji said at once since he didn't know all the details.

Sakura stepped forward and recounted every moment from when the light radiated from the tree to when the ANBU woman drew her last breath. She made sure to include the promise she made to the woman and the mentioned of Itachi's name.

"Itachi? Uchiha Itachi?"

"I don't think there is anyone else we know with that name, and even if there is, the coincidence of it and a child looking like Sasuke is too much, sir", Sakura said.

There was a pause. Kakashi leaned back against the chair. The sun was already hidden behind the mountains, allowing a couple of stars to become visible in the sky.

"Sakura, do clarify this. The ANBU operative told you to look after the children, but there was only one child?"

"Yes, sir."

"She did not specify the number of children?"

"No", Sakura responded slowly and then procedeed to mentally kick herself for not considering that there could be more than one missing child. She had just assumed that there was just one child. Surely, the woman could not carry more than two children in her arms.

"Did she mentioned or gave any indication as to why she was in the area?"

"No, sir. But she did suggest they were in danger from a man", Sakura stated as she recalled the ANBU mentioning a "him."

"Sakura, when you scouted the area did you find _anything_?"

"No, sir."

Another paused proceeded. There was clearly something bothering Kakashi. Sakura could tell from the pensive expression on his face. The only time Kakashi looked like that was when he knew something serious was going on.

Sakura was about to ask the Hokage what he was thinking about but then-

"What are you going to do about the little guy, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto blurted loudly as though he had been refraining from asking the question this whole time.

Kakashi considered Naruto for a moment. He knew the boy would not like the answer, so he braced himself for his reaction. "For the mean time, I am having a squad of ANBU operatives guard him."

"But he is just a kid! Surely someone else less frightning can look after him", Naruto said, thinking about how porcelain masks were creepy to children. The thought came mostly from his childhood experience. "How about Iruka- sensei? He is great with kids."

"Calm now, Naruto. I'm not sending him to prison. But until we know more about the boy, we need to keep a close eye on him. I agree with Sakura. The coincidence that there is a boy that looks like Sasuke and the mentioned of Itachi's named is just too great to ignore."

"Sir, has the identity of that ANBU woman been found?" Sakura needed to know who she was. She needed to know to whom she made a promise.

But Kakashi shook his head, "No. There are no traces of her identity in the registries we have of all the ANBU operatives."

"What?"

"It is like she has never existed."

* * *

"Eight"

"Nine"

"TEN"

Sakura threw another shuriken at the practice target she nailed to the door. She was currently inside the office she shared with shizune in the hospital, trying to relieve the stress she was feeling.

Of course, what she actually needed was sleep. She was exhausted, but she doubted she would get any with everything that had occurred during the day. And her meeting with Sasuke would surely inspire nightmares she would rather not have.

No, it was best to stay up and release her frustration in some way that was not treating patients. It would not be helpful for her career if she killed someone because of her lack of sleep. Thankfully for Sakura, Kakashi decided to not send her team on the hunt for Sasuke for another day or two. His decision had something to do with visitors coming to the village and he needed ANBU operatives in the village.

Sakura sighed. She was becoming restless with having nothing to do besides throwing shuriken. And that was becoming dull, especially when there was room for only two or three more.

"**I know what you are thinking**", her inner said playfully.

"_If you know, then why tell me_?" Sakura replied irratibly. She was not in the mood to humor anyone, much less her inner self.

"**You are spooked**."

"Huh?" Sakura halted in the middle of throwing a shuriken and listened to her inner self.

"**You heard Kakashi. There are no traces of that woman's identity. It was as if she never existed. And you know what that means." **

"No, I don't know what it means", replied quickly as she tried to shrug off the unsettling feeling she was getting. Was it her or was the room getting cold?

"**Don't play dumb with me. You know as well as I do that the woman was a…ghost**."

A chill run down Sakura's spine. The hairs in her arms stood up like spines. The woman could not have been a ghost. She was definitely solid. Sakura held her hand for at least half an hour.

But there were no files on her.

What about the head-band protector Sakura found on the woman? It was proof she was from the Leaf, or maybe she stole the uniform from an operative.

"**Or she is a ghost**", Inner-Sakura whispered.

The sound of the office door opening startled Sakura. Acting on instincts, Sakura quickly threw a shuriken at the intruder.

"Hey, Sakura. Kakashi-sensei said to-" Naruto stopped talking the moment he saw the blur that was the shuriken fly past him. Turning pale, he slid down the floor.

"Sa-Sakura, wh-what was that fo-for?"

"Naruto" Sakura brought her hand to her mouth in horror. "I am so sorry", Sakura began bowing and apologizing to the boy. "I thought you were an enemy."

"**No, you thought he was a ghost**", her inner-self corrected.

"So you were saying something about Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura tugged her hair behind her ear nervously.

Naruto tried to remember why he was there in the first place. "Oh, he said to report to the chambers below the Hokage's tower", Naurto said as he got up from the floor.

"Is it about the second child? He found him?" Sakura asked hopefully. Kakashi agreed to send scouts to the forest to find the boy.

"No. Not yet."

"Oh, Ok", Sakura said in dissapointment. "Let me get my gear and then we can head out to get yours."

"I gave my bag to Sai. I ran into him when I was coming for you."

As Sakura got her ANBU uniform from a nearby locker, Naruto looked around her office to entertained himself. The office was small and bright. He could not say that it was neat, for there were clothes everywhere and mountains of books against the wall. Just by looking at them, Naruto got sleepy.

"I didn't know you had your own office, Sakura", naruto yawned.

"I share it with Shizune, but she hardly comes here. She spends most of her time with patients or with Tsunade."

"That's nice", Naruto commented. His eyes threatened to close, but before they did, he recognized something in taped to the door.

"Sakura."

"Yes?" Sakura responded absent minded. She was trying to decide if she still needed to wear her headband protector. She wore it during the attempted-invasion, but it was uncomfortable behind the mask.

"Why do you have my drawing of Sasuke?" Naruto pointed to a badly drawn picture of Sasuke, taped on all four corners to the office door. There were ten shuriken piercing through it.

Sakura decided that she could just carry her protector in her pouch. "Oh, that. I went to your house while you were gone with Yamato and saw it. I thought it would be helpful for shuriken practice", Sakura said without feeling any embarrassment at all.

Naruto did not reply. Instead he looked at it thoughtfully. He was not the brightest guy in his class or in the village for that matter, but it did not mean he was stupid. He knew that Sakura's resentment towards Sasuke was because she still had feelings for him. True, she hated him, but Naruto thought, this hate came from the fact that she still loved him.

It hurt to admit it because Naruto still found himself drawn to Sakura. He liked everything about her, including her tempter. But there was no point in denying the truth about who held Sakura's heart. If he did, he knew it would just hurt him more in the end. There was a bright side however. He could sometimes feel Sakura looking at him as more than a friend.

"Naruto", Sakura's voice rung through his ears. "I'm ready." She hoisted a gym bag on her shoulder and slid her dark gloves on.

"Before we go, can we check on little guy?"

"Little guy?" Sakura repeated.

"Yeah, the Sasuke look-alike. I bet he is awake now."

Sakura also wanted to check on the boy. She had been worried about him since they checked him in to the hospital. She wanted to see him, but she felt nervous. Of what? She wasn't too sure just yet.

"Come. I will show you the way", she said.

They knew there was something wrong as soon as they heard the screams coming from the room. Naruto and Sakura raced through the hall and kicked the door open. Naruto had been right. The boy had awakened. But it was doubtful that he predicted the scene that lay before the two of them.

The boy, whose eyes were bandaged, was standing on his bed and pressed his back against the wall. In his hand, he was holding a shard from a broken vase and threatening two nurses not to come close to him.

"Come here boy! Before you get yourself hurt", said one of the nurses.

"No! I want to know where the others are", the boy snapped at them. Sakura was impressed the boy knew where the nurses were. He was probably following their voices.

"If you don't come here, you will get in trouble."

"Don't come near me, or you will be the one getting hurt."

Sakura took noticed of the boy stance. He was holding the shard like it was a kunai and was positioned in a well-practice stance. The boy could not be more than five years old, yet Sakura could tell he already had shinobi training. Of course, the perfection of his stance did not matter when he did not have the strength to back it up. In a match between two grown women and a child, there plainly clear who would win.

One nurse finally got fed up with the boy's antics and approached him just as he jumped forward to attack. Sakura made her move. She lunged for the boy's waist, wrapt one hand around it, and brought him against her chest. With her free hand, she took away the shard without hurting the boy and dropped it to the floor.

"You should listened to your elders", Sakura told him. She tried to sound firm, but the surprise look on the boy's face was just too adorable for her.

"Miss Haruno, thank goodness you're here", one of the nurses said in relief.

"What happened?" Sakura asked while not releasing the boy from her arms.

"We don't know. When we got here, we saw the broken vase and the boy on top of the bed threatening us. We tried to calm him down, but that just got him more rattle up. He kept asking for his companions." The pity in their faces let Sakura know they knew about the woman's death.

"We will take it from here. Thank you", she dismissed them.

The nurses excused themselves and left Sakura and Naruto with the boy. This whole time the boy had been silent. With concern printed on his face, Naruto got closer and poked one of the boy's chubby little cheeks. This seemed to bring the boy back from wherever he was in his thoughts because he began to struggle in Sakura's arms.

"You are going to hurt yourself if you keep struggling."

"Then let me go", the little boy countered.

"If I let you go, then promise to be good. Understood?" The boy took a moment to consider his options before he nodded. Sakura released him. As soon as his little feet landed on the bed, the boy scurried to the other side of the bed where he sat on top of his knees.

"Where are my friends?" the boy asked quietly.

"_Should I tell him_?" Sakura asked her inner-self. She really did not want to lie to the boy, but she didn't have the heart to tell him that the woman was dead and the other child was missing, probably dead.

"Why are his eyes bandaged?" Naruto whispered.

Without answering the boy's question, Sakura walked to the front of the bed and took the chart hanging there. She hoped that the state of his health would concern him enough to make him forget about his own question. Besides, he was a child. Children got easily distracted.

"It seems I was right. The substance on his eyes was oil. It says here it burned some of the skin around his eyes."

"Really? Ah! Wait…. Is he going to be blind?" Naruto panicked, looking from the boy to the chart.

"No, but his skin and eyes need time to heal." Sakura continue to read the chart, looking for the boy's name. There was no name listed for him or his parents. But she did find something interesting. The oil on the boy's eyes was one used by grass shinobi.

Were they the ones who wounded the woman? Sakura put the chart down.

"What is your name?" She asked, making her voice sweet.

"…"

"Well…" Sakura pressed on trough clenched teeth. Attachment or no attachment, the boy was starting to get on her nerves.

The boy did not waver. He remained silent. His lips pursed together in a form of defiance.

"Hey, little boy, why aren't you answering?" Naruto asked impatiently. This got a reaction. Turning red, the boy swung his feet off the bed. If his eyes were not bandaged, the boy would have glared shards at them.

"I am not a little boy", told them as though he had been fatally insulted.

"Good little boy's answer when they are asked questions", Naruto tried to bait him.

"No, good boys don't talk to strangers", the boy turned his back on them again and added, "and you didn't answer my question first. That's rude."

Sakura looked to Naruto for help. Surely, they could not break the news to the boy. He was just a child. But Naruto too was at lost about what they should do.

"Why aren't you answering?" the boy's quiet voice made Sakura's ears turned red, a reaction of she got whenever she was under pressure.

The boy spun with frustration. "ANSWER ME. WHY AREN'T YOU TALKING?"

Dead silence was the answer the boy got, but it seemed the boy realized the reason for their hesitation, for blood began to drain from his face.

"No. No", they boy muttered to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. "NO!"

He tried to run towards them with another shard he had hidden. But he tripped and fell to the floor. The shard flew out of his hand, landing somewhere under his bed.

The boy didn't get up. He remained where he was; his arms hugging his head. This time he let his emotions fly freely.

"NO! NO!" he painfully screamed as Sakura stood there not knowing what to do. She never experienced the lost of someone she cared about. She knew an "I know how it feels" would sound superficial coming from her. Before Sakura could stop him, Naruto knelt before the boy and placed his hand on his shoulder. The boy flinched and slapped his hand.

"GET AWAY FROM ME", he yelled furiously, pulling away. "DON'T' TOUCH ME!"

The scene before Sakura was breaking her heart. A child should not have to experience something so horrible at such an early age.

"Sakura, can't we do something?" Naruto looked at the boy with pity in his eyes, understanding loss the boy was going through.

Sakura moved towards the boy; her hand glowing green. The moment it made contact with the boy's neck, the crying stopped. His body was limp with sleep. Sakura picked the boy in her arms and carried him to his bed.

"Sakura", Naruto asked as she laid the boy down in the bed. "Can we stay with him?"

"I wish we could, Naruto. But we are late as it is. We could come back later."

Naruto nodded with understanding and headed to the door. Before following her teammate, Sakura made sure that there were no vases or scapels the boy could use to harm himself or others. Her eyes flicker to the boy. She wished she could do more than force sleep on him and, so, before she knew it, she found her lips touching his forhead.

"I am sorry."

* * *

A tattoo. The reason why Kakashi had summoned team ten was because of a tattoo. But it was not just any regular marking on their skin. The mark the new ANBU team was going to get engrave on their skin was the signature spiral all ANBU operatives received as proof of their status.

"Come on already. I'm ready for this", Naruto said.

"You won't be feeling so eager in a couple of minutes", Kakashi heard the tattooist muttered darkly.

"Naruto will you be quiet already", Sakura, who was sitting on the chair next to Naruto, snapped. She was already getting the tattoo on her right shoulder as it was customary for the woman. Kakashi saw that his former student tried to indure the pain by biting her lip and looking anywhere except her shoulder. Next to her was Neji. He too was already getting tattooed but on his left shoulder. He was his usual quiet and reserved self, but he too was in pain. The stiffness of his body and the vain popping from his forhead was proof enough. As for the last member of the team, he was sitting in the corner of the chamber. He already had his tattoo. There was nothing for him to do except to read a tattered copy of _Great Leaders of the Shinobi World_.

"OW!"

"Hold still kid", the tattooist said as he tried to push Naruto back to his chair.

"What you are doing, old man. That hurt…OW!"

"_Naruto, what did you expect that needle to feel like?_" Kakashi sighed, recalling his own experience at getting the tattoo.

"Kakashi", a voice called from the shadows of the chamber. Kakashi turned slightly.

"So you're here? I didn't expect you so soon", he lied. Truth be told, he knew they were on their way. Konoha's spies were efficient like that.

"We were already on our way when we intercepted your letter."

"Is that so?" Kakashi narrowed his single eye.

"Come on Kakashi, don't take it that way. I'm sure a message was send to you, but it probably got lost. You know Gaara likes you", the voice said as it stepped from the shadows and into the dim light of the chamber. A boy with purple markings on his face and a puppet on his back was revealed.

"I don't think that can be said of the other kages", Kakashi replied. More figures stepped from the shadows. It was a total of five shinobi. Four men and one woman. Each one selected to be part of this team by their respective Kages.

"So Kakashi, who have you chosen as Konoha's representative?" Kankuro looked straight at Naruto, who had passed out from the pain.

"Not Naruto", Kakashi answered automatically. "If you follow me, I will introduce you to the person I've chosen."

"So Naruto and Sakura are ANBU now", Kankuro remarked as he and his companions followed the Hokage to his office.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, "They just did. Ah, here we are", the group stopped in front of his office. He opened the door and revealed a man standing in the middle of the room with his back to them.

"Lady and gentlemen, may I introduce to you to your new teammate: Yamato."

Yamato turned to faced them. "Hey", he raised his arm in greeting.

* * *

"_Someone is crying" _a voice stated softly.

"_Who could be crying?_" the voice wondered and listened carefully. There were loud bangs on the wall. The cries became louder and louder.

"_Who is there?"_ the voice called.

"WHO IS THERE", Sasuke woke up screaming. He looked around the room for the source of the cries and found Madara sitting in a chair in the far corner. His sharingan was shining brightly in the dark.

"Nightmare?" the masked man asked casually.

Sasuke panted. He was covered in cold sweat. He could not hear the person crying anymore, but he was sure he had heard it. He tried to move from his bed but as soon as he did, a sharp pain paralyzed him.

"Argh", Sasuke looked to his side. His torso was bandaged tightly. He could see a blood stain forming in the side of where he was wounded.

"Orochimaru did well in making you resistant to poison. That little teammate of yours could have killed you."

Sasuke remembered getting stabbed by Sakura. The mere memory of it made him swell with anger. But it was not just because his former teammate managed to injure him. His plans to conquer Konoha were foiled.

"Leave me alone", Sasuke hissed.

"I will, but before I do, we need to talk."

Sasuke looked expectantly at Madara. He knew the man would not leave until he had his say. The sooner he spoke, the sooner the young Uchiha could agonize over his unsuccessful plan to invade.

"I think it's time for you to reconsider Itachi's eyes", Madara said simply.

With nothing to lose, there is nothing to fear and nothing to look forward to. A life with nothing is one full of loneliness and slow suffering. Until the day comes, when one cannot feel anymore.

Next time on Hidden Leaf Revelations:

An Uchiha Decision

A/N:

Hello, there. Happy New Year! It was been months, sorry! School has been extremely busy. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter and please review. Please look forward to the next chapter. It will be mainly about Sasuke, and there will be a little, fluffy Sasusaku moment. I know I am lacking on those. But it is the nature of the story ;)

P.S. The next chapters will deviate from the manga for various reasons. But it is mainly that reading the _manga _distracts me from my studies. Seriously, the story is so addicting that I can't concentrate on my duties because I spend most of my time thinking about how life sucks for the people in _Naruto_. Am I the only one this happens to?


	5. An Uchiha Decision

Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_.

**An Uchiha Decision**

Sasuke remained silent, not liking where Madara was going with this. There was a sense of uneasiness stirring within him, and it had nothing to do with Madara's blunt _suggestion_, as the latter liked to call it.

What made Sasuke uneasy was he could feel an inclination to agree with the man. Sasuke never denied that Itachi's eyes would take him to a new level of power unimaginable by him. But before the incident in Konoha, Sasuke was sure his own power would be enough to carry his plans. He was wrong, and he realized that now.

There was only one problem.

A big one in Sasuke's opinion. He made a promise to not take the eyes until they could see peace. But there would be no peace without the eyes since Sasuke's current condition already proved too useless and weak.

As if sensing the internal struggle in Sasuke's conscious, Madara rose from his seat, moved closer until he was in front of the nightstand beside the bed. Sasuke then heard the noise of a drawer being opened and objects being moved.

"I know how you must feel about yourself, Sasuke", Madara began. "There is nothing more demeaning to anyone than weakness."

Madara took something out, but it was too dark for Sasuke to get a clear view of what it was.

"Weakness makes one a slave to the wishes of others – "A match was lit and Madara bent over the nightstand where a single candle stood - "There was a time when I found myself in the same position as you. It was the most insufferable time of my life. You see, I was not born to be a slave. Those around me knew it. My brother certainly did and, out of the love he had for me, offered his eyes, and I took them. "

As the candle's small light swept the room, Sasuke's vision blurred, followed by the thumping sensation he had come to know quite well in his head.

He tried to act as if nothing was wrong with him, to prove Madara wrong. It was useless.

"Blindness and the deterioration of your physic are inevitable, Sasuke. You are only experiencing the symptoms right now and have the luxury to pretend nothing is wrong with you. But trust me, the luxury will end. And soon. You can feel it? Can't you?"

Although what Sasuke felt was an extreme desire to physically silence him, there was no denying the effect his words and little stunt were having on him. Because they _were_ having an effect. Sasuke could see it in the flashbacks of his battle how his condition held him back, made him too slow; too sloppy; too out of control. Months before, there would be no chance in hell that he be defeated by people like Naruto and Sakura.

Sasuke touched his wound and curled his lip with contempt for the one who inflicted it. Sakura had always been the weakest of the three. He was certain that only someone who was weak could be defeated by someone like her. Which brought him to the point that Madara was trying to get across and the one Sasuke had been ignoring: he was a weakling.

"_I need them, brother." _Sasuke closed his eyes, resigning himself to what was meant to be.

There, in the darkness his close eyes brought, he found himself staring at his brother's back. With his dark hair tied behind him and wearing the black clothes he used to wear when he wasn't on a mission, Itachi seemed unreachable to Sasuke.

With his head bowed in shame, Sasuke uttered the words he swore he would never say again to his older brother. He was starting to understand the meaning behind the saying "promises were meant to be broken".

"I am sorry, Itachi", he said softly.

There was a faint chuckle and the last thing Sasuke saw before opening his eyes was Itachi shaking his head and turning to give his brother a sad smile. Sasuke knew that smile. Itachi had given it to him several times during their childhood. It was the smile he always gave Sasuke when he was disappointed in him.

If promises were meant to be broken, then why did Sasuke felt rotten inside?

He wished he would have died right then.

* * *

Kakashi measured the team before him from his desk.

The men and woman in front of him were part of the Alliance's Surprise Attack Division.

There was the blonde woman Kakashi had met from the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Samui, he thought, was her name. She was a woman with blonde, asymmetrically-cut hair, tall, calculating, icy-blue eyes, and a large bust.

Standing next to Yamato was a Shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Rocks. He had spiky hair and a dark colored beard.

And standing between Samui and Kankuro was a Shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Mist. He had black hair, sticking up in odd places.

"To tell you the truth, I am surprise at the speed the Shinobi army mobilized", Kakashi commented. It had taken the kages less than a month to come together, decide on the organization of the army, and locate the Akatsuki's headquarters.

"And a good thing we did start to mobilize", Kankuro returned. "We never thought the Akatsuki would come this way. We had expected them to pass through the warlords lands, but there was not a single trace of them there. I still don't understand why they retreated though", Kankuro finished thoughtfully.

Kakashi had been thinking the same thing. From what he been told and read in reports, the Akatsuki seemed to have the upper hand in the battle. Knowing Sasuke, there was no way the Akatsuki would have left without good reason. And there was Madara to think about. It was true – from what he assumed of the man – that Madara was the kind to turn tail and run, but why would he when Naruto – the container of the Nine Tails – was there for him to take. There was no doubt something fishy going on.

Kakashi sighed. This job was seriously giving him a headache. What he was doing would be considered treason by some: sending Naruto after the Akatsuki when the main purpose of the Allied Shinobi Forces was to protect him.

"Kakashi?" Kankuro called his name loudly, stirring the Hokage from his preoccupations.

"Sorry, you were saying Kankarou?"

Kankuro looked around the room and said, "I thought two more people were joining this group. Seeing Naruto and Sakura made me wonder if they were the ones. But you said…"

"No, not them. Naruto is too…conspicuous, and it would beat the purpose of all our efforts. Sakura would be good. Excellent chakra control, but she along with Naruto and Sai will be my bodyguards."

Kakashi did not miss doubtful look he got from Yamato. Unfortunately for Kakashi, Yamato's expression was not missed by Samui.

The Kumogakure Shinobi looked from Yamato to Kakashi thoughtfully but remained quiet. Kankuro, however, asked: "Bodyguards?"

"Naruto will not stay put unless he has something important to do. And what is more important than protecting his Hokage. I, of course, will stay here?" Kakashi asked.

"But will Naruto? He is not the kind of person to stay when his friends are in danger."

"If I tell him that while he keeps an eye on me, I will teach him secret Hokage information, he will. As for Sakura and Sai, I need them to keep Naruto safe. They are his friends and are skillful Shinobi. If by some reason they run into an Akatsuki, I am sure they will keep him safe. Believe me, this is the best for Naruto."

Kankuro nodded in what Kakashi hoped was understanding. He was making up everything on the spot since he had been working on an excuse when the Akatsuki had attacked.

"So is this our team then," Kankuro concluded.

"No, I recommended two other Shinobi to your team. But they were part of the Shinobi units I send to protect the village from the Akatsuki. They should be getting out of the hospital by tomorrow. In the mean time, why don't you and your team rest? You have traveled a long way."

Kakashi stood up at once and said, "Yamato take them to guestrooms."

"Yes, sir."

"See you around then, Kakashi" Kankuro waved before his team and he exited the room with Yamato in the lead. Kakashi closed his eyes momentarily. They stunk from his lack of sleep. But he still had matters to attend before that.

"You know you are playing a dangerous game, sir."

Kakashi eyed the window behind him from the corner of his eye. Crouched on window's still was Shikamaru, wearing a bored expression on his face.

"You are jeopardizing the Shinobi Alliance with this decision of yours, and, if I may point at it, your cover is not a very good one. I seriously doubt your mission will succeed, sir."

Kakashi chuckled. He really needed to give it to the kid for his honesty. "Believe me, Shikamaru, there is not a single hour that passes by when I don't wonder if I had made the right choice. I have made a lot of mistakes. Let's just hope this is not one of them shall we?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "You're the Hokage."

"About what assigned you, did you find anything?"

At this Shikamaru straighten his shoulders and grew as serious as the situation demanded. "It is as Sakura said. There are no children left to find in the forest. No bodies, clothing fragments, or traces. But I did investigate the source of that light everyone kept talking about – that tree."

"And what did you find?" Kakashi pressed.

Shikamaru scratched his head; a habit of his when he was working more than he had to. "Even after several hours have passed, its trunk is hot. Well, at least it was when I left. What's more is the grass around it was burned. There was a line stretching from the tree to where Naruto said he found the child, assuming he calculated correctly. The grass there was burned too."

Kakashi turned to fully face Shikamaru. His face was expressionless, but the wheels of his brain were turning at a speed that added more to his headache.

"Did you interview the Shinobi who were there like I asked?"

Shikamaru nodded; glad he decided to get that done with before he considered it too much of drag and procrastinated. "I did, but you are not going to believe this…sir. According to two Shinobi there who had been injured by Sasuke, they saw the tree glowing and seconds later, the light exploded from it. They swore, sir, that…"

"Why are you stopping Shikamaru?" Kakashi asked.

"Sorry, sir, it just it seems too absurd to take seriously. But they swore three bodies came out of that tree".

For a second, Shikamaru thought he had seen Kakashi's eyes widened. But he blinked, and when he glanced at the Hokage again, Kakashi's face was expressionless as ever.

"Shikamaru, I have another assignment for you", the grayed-haired Hokage announced, turning his back to pull out a piece of parchment for his desk, and handing it to the Nara.

Shikamaru scrutinized the old parchment of paper in his hand. It was the oldest-looking thing he had ever seen. ZC900.C35 was written neatly on its wrinkly, stained top.

"A library reference number?" Shikamaru he raised one eyebrow puzzled. What was he suppose to do with this? He felt a wave of work load coming his way.

As if reading his mind, Kakashi said: "I want you to look up something for me. Read what it says, think about it, and form some conclusions. Meet me here tomorrow in the morning. I want to hear your theories."

Shikamaru scratched his head. This was going to be more of a drag than managing the Shinobi during the invasion. "What exactly am I suppose to be looking for?"

"You'll know."

Kakashi saw the young Shinobi jump from the window and heard him say "Man, this is such a drag. And here I thought I could start slacking with Kakashi in charge."

He would have laughed at the comment, but stopped as soon as his head started to spin with theories and putting puzzles of information together. If his theories were correct, then maybe it was not too late to save Sasuke after all. For a second Kakashi felt light with hope, but stomped it quickly. It would not do to hope and then be wrong.

What he needed to do was seek the boy Sakura and Naruto found. But before he did that, it would not hurt to get some sleep. Kamisama only knew how much he needed it at the moment.

* * *

"Look at them, they absolutely hate us", Sakura shook her head with outrage.

"They don't hate us, Sakura. It's just your imagination", Naruto said distractedly as he strained his ears to hear the conversation – more like a lecture, Sakura thought - Neji was having with the Head ANBU, several feet away from them.

Sakura turned to Naruto slightly annoyed at how oblivious he was to his surroundings. Not a good quality to have in their kind of trade.

"My imagination? They have been glaring at us since our shift began!"

Naruto laughed at this and finally turned Sakura, who could not see his expression because of his mask, but was sure he was amused. "And you could see these glares even do they are wearing masks?"

Sakura flashed with indignation. "I think I know when I'm being glared at, Naruto." _Being at the receiving end of the infamous Uchiha Glare for the better part of my childhood. _"And you should too."

Finally loosing the last of her patience – she didn't have a lot to begin with- Sakura folded her arms, took a defiant pose, and glared back at the elite group of Shinobi behind Neji and the Head ANBU. It was childish of her of course and she could only hope that her message was sent across despite her mask, but it did make her feel better. She was showing them she could stand up for herself.

The group recoiled for a second to Sakura's pleasure, not expecting her to retaliate, but they quickly overcame their shock and intensified their glare.

"Idiots", Sakura muttered and – with nothing to do and not interested in spying her captain – settled for watching Sai work on his latest creation: a lion biting the head of a snake.

Sakura never expected the promotion of her team to meet with such disapproval from the rest of the elite Shinobi. From what she gathered from overhearing the gossip in the women's locker-room, many believed the members of ANBU Team Seven – saved Neji – to be highly unqualified for their position.

Ironically, it had little to do with their skill. The disapprovement mainly came from the fact the promotion had not followed procedure. Before they could achieve ANBU level, Sakura and Naruto needed to be Jonin with at least some years of experience under their belt. As for Sai, the other ANBU hated ROOT and Sai's friendship with Naruto and Sakura gave them an excuse to openly hate the boy. All in all, in the eyes of rule sticking Shinobi, the promotion was a sign of favoritism from the Hokage to his former students.

"_I like to see them cramb and work their asses off to pass that exam, _Sakura thought darkly, remembering the intense hours of practicing. She then added smugly. _"I bet they didn't come up with a jutsu of their own_."

"_**One that needs to be perfected and is based on someone else's"**_, Inner-Sakura sleepily reminded her.

Sakura ignored her inner self's comment and straighten her shoulders in an attempt to look dignified. She had other matters to worry about that were of more importance than how well-liked she was among the ANBU.

"Here he comes", Naruto whispered, bringing Sakura out of her musings.

"He looks angry", Sai commented as he dusted dirt off his pants. Sakura and Naruto nodded as they noticed a black, ominious-looking aura radiating from Neji as he walked to his team.

"What did the Head say?" Sakura asked Naruto.

"How should I know?" Naruto replied nervously as Neji got closer.

"You were east dropping!"

"I didn't he –"

"Follow me", Neji commanded curtly as he passed his team without bothering to look back to make sure he was followed. He led them away from the others into the darkest part of the forest he could find. Once they were out of ear shot, Neji stopped.

There was only one time Sakura could recall being intimidated by Neji. It was the first time she met him. He was cold, calculating, and one look from him froze anyone to their spot – except a certain raven-haired genin. Tonight, marked the second time Sakura was intimidated by the Hyuuga.

"I will say this once, and I expect you all to understand and follow my order." It was clear by the tone of his voice Neji was in a foul mood and was not to be missed with. "Do not embarrass me anymore. I know how Team Kakashi used to work and professionalism and discipline was not part of it."

"Neji, what did the Head say to you?" Sakura dared to ask, a little exasperated with his attitude. What had they done wrong? Was this about the Uchihas slipping out of their hands because they had been reprimanded for it already. This had to be about something else. But what?

"Nothing that you would understand, Haruno", Neji replied coolly. "And it's is Captain."

This reply did not settle too well with Sakura. She was one of the few ninja in her age group who did not have an authority problem. They could boss her around, yell at her when she made mistakes, but as long as they had reason for it and were justified. Neji had neither, and it was taking all her strength to restrain herself from lashing at him. Naruto and Sai took note of this and quickly tried to placate her by putting their arms on her shoulders.

Neji did not notice or most likely ignored it. She bet it was the latter. He resumed his lecture. "We are ANBU now, and I expect all of you to behave accordingly. Guard duty is over for now, but I want you three to get a good night's sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

"Why?" Naruto asked hesitantly, fearing the young man."I though Kakashi-sensei told us to get the day off."

"It would be foolish to waste time and not plan. We have another shot at the Uchiha, and this time we are going about it the _proper_ way."

Sakura was sure his comment was meant for her and Naruto, the ones – at least in his mind - who were not powerful enough to capture Sasuke. Despite agreeing that she and Naruto were _partially _to blame and also because she irritated with him, Sakura wanted to point out that Neji too let an Uchiha escape, and not just any Uchiha. He let Madara – public enemy number one – escape. She was going to say as much, but bit her lip. It had been a long day, and as much as she wanted to point out to Neji he had flaws too, she was tired and wanted to get out of there.

"Whatever the Head told him, it sure hit a spot", Naruto muttered quietly the moment Neji turned to leave.

"Yes, but he shouldn't have taken it out on us", Sakura shook her head; her anger evaporating now that its source stomped out of sight.

"Are you going home?" Naruto suddenly asked, trying to sound indifferent, but failing at it. It came out hopeful.

"I was thinking about stopping by the hospital and check on the boy and Lady Tsunade."

"Good", Naruto immediately said. "Because the guy who gave me my tattoo slipped me a bottle of sake for the pain. I left before he could ask for it."

Before Sakura could respond to Naruto and say maybe a hangover was not such a great idea when they had Neji in an insufferable mood, Sai cleared his throat to get their attention.

"I do believe Neji said to go home and get some sleep", Sai said in a pleasant voice, but there was something there that made Sakura frown behind her mask.

"I thought you wanted a bonding experience at the hospital?" Naruto asked sounding puzzled. Did he notice the same thing Sakura had about Sai?

Sai paused before responding. It seemed like he was choosing his next words carefully.

"You two should not get attached to that boy."

"That boy?" that was Naruto. He was stretching arms up.

"The one from the forest", Sai clarified.

"What? Why", Naruto asked, lowering his arms.

"Because I know you two will get attached to him, and I think I can understand why, but you don't know anything about the boy."

"And you do?" Sakura snapped, but not at what Sai was saying. The day was finally taking a tall on her body and emotional state.

"Sai, we are talking about a kid here", Naruto tried to laughed it off. "What can a little kid do to us?"

"I don't know", Sai said slowly because he himself was not sure how someone so small could cause trouble. "But I feel this child is bad news."

Both Naruto and Sakura stayed quiet before Sakura exploded into a fit of laughter. She could not help it. The whole confrontation, if one could called such, was too ridiculous to take it seriously.

"I see you won't take my advice", Sai said quietly, hurt coloring his voice.

Smiling behind her mask, Sakura said, "Sai, how can you think a child is bad news. No wait, I think I know why. It's because he looks like Uchiha? Sai, please, that boy is not him nor is he related to the Uchihas. How could he? The last Uchihas are currently hiding somewhere, plotting their next move to take over the world."

But unfortunately for her, Sai was not listening. "You know, I thought we reached a point where you would take my advice", he said in soft disappointment. "I guess the books are wrong." And with that Sai took his leave without looking back to his team.

Sakura tried to go after him. The situation had been ridiculous to her, but she felt bad for Sai who probably had the best intentions at heart. She could only imagine the courage it took for him speak his mind to them. Before she could take one foot forward, Naruto stopped her.

"Not if you don't mean it Sakura", he said. "We should head to the hospital. The sooner we do, the sooner we go home and Sai can see we listened to some of his advice."

Taking one last look at Sai's retreating figure, Sakura made her way to the hospital with a yawning Naruto at her side.

* * *

The two young ABU's first stop was the boy's room. The room was guarded by two elite Shinobi, but, as soon as Naruto and Sakura confirmed their identities, they were let in and without any glares, much to Sakura's relief.

The room was quiet except for the boy's slow breathing. The only source of light came from the white moon. Sakura could make out the boy's form resting on the bed and was thankful to notice he was not having nightmares.

It was as at the moment she thanked Kami-sama for not giving the boy bad dreams, when she wanted her gratefulness back and let out a groan.

Sakura had heard about the tales of how captivating children could be when they were sleeping. They supposedly looked like vulnerable, enchanting angels. Sakura had never experienced it. For one, she was an only child. Secondly, the only children she babysat were Honohamaru and his friends when they were children, and they _never_ slept nor were they angels. But looking at the child, Sakura now got what the adults had meant.

"Naruto?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't think I am going home tonight." Sakura whispered.

"Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think I am going home either."

Sakura would have smiled at that if the situation had not been serious. Sai had warned her and Naruto not to get attached to the child. She thought it was ridiculous. For one, the child looked like public enemy number two. Secondly, Sakura did not get attach to strangers. But just like in the forest where she met him, Sakura felt a pull towards the boy. She felt like she needed to protect him and that she had been a fool for leaving him alone when he had no one.

Sakura dropped herself to one of the seats facing the front of the bed, and Naruto did the same. They took off their masks and gear, leaving only their clothes on. Sakura brought her knees to her chest and rested her head on the chair. When she turned to Naruto, he was already asleep and snoring.

She considered him momentarily, wondering his reason for getting attached to the child. She knew hers. The boy was her charge and he needed her, but what was Naruto's excuse? Asking herself that, Sakura drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Sakura was jolted from her sleep.

All feelings of grogginess faded as she instinctively took out the kunai she had hidden under her armchair, leaped to her feet, and surveyed the room around her.

Naruto was missing and, much to her horror, so was the boy.

"_Kidnapped_? _No the guards would have come in. And the window is closed."_

Without dropping her guard, Sakura approached the empty bed. The covers were thrown aside; there were no signs of a struggle; and the bed was still warm. She briefly wondered if Naruto had taken the boy when muffle sounds caught Sakura's attention. She listened intently, moving to where they were coming from.

She stopped in front of the closet, wary of not knowing what to expect or what to do about it. After a moment of indecision, Sakura finally managed to sum up some courage and opened the door to peer inside.

Her heart sunk at what she saw.

It was the boy. He was huddled against the farthest corner of the closet. Even with minimal light, Sakura could tell his body was trembling. His palms were pressed against his bandaged eyes. His previously spiky hair deflated and hanging loose.

"Hey, don't cry", Sakura said as she got on her knees and crawled inside. She tentatively raised her hand to comfort the boy, but as if sensing it, he recoiled away from it.

"You have nothing to fear. You're safe", Sakura told him gently.

He did not move, and, at this, Sakura's eye brows knitted together in worry. She had to comfort the boy and soon. Last time he was in his condition, it looked like he would hurt himself. The problem was that Sakura was not good with comforting kids. What could she say? She liked them, but she never really spent time with them. Now, Naruto would be the perfect for this. He was great with them. Where was he when she needed him?

So it was that Sakura was left to try again by herself.

"I promise know one will hurt you here…" she stopped as a thought occurred to her. Maybe the boy was not shaking because he was afraid. Sakura had been around enough prideful men to get a sense of when they were holding back emotions. The boy before her was trying not to cry.

This time an assertive Sakura leaned forward; her arms outstretched and pulled the boy to her chest. The boy struggled to free himself, hitting her where ever he could, but Sakura just hugged him closer, determined to help him.

"There is no shame in letting your emotions free. Don't hold them in."

The boy stopped hitting her, and his body began to shake again as he struggled with his emotions.

"You need to let them out."

And he finally did.

The emotions the boy so desperately fought to contain were finally too much for his little body to bear. His cries were of the same intensity of grief, loneliness, and fear as the ones he had let out earlier. They were the kind reserved only for the loss of a loved one.

Time seem to pass slowly. Outside, the clouds started to gather, blocking the bluish-white light coming from the moon, leaving behind complete darkness. Soon after, Sakura began to hear rain drops falling from the sky.

The boy's breathing slowed down, and his cries seized. Sakura glanced down at the boy and was not surprise to find him asleep.

Careful not to wake him up, Sakura gathered him in her arms and carried him to his bed. She tucked him to sleep and turned to walk to her chair, but a hand stopped her. Glancing down, Sakura was surprise to find the boy holding her shirt in a tight grasp. She tried pulled her shirt from him gently, but, the moment she did, the boy let out a whimper.

"**Looks like you're sleeping here**", a sleepily voiced echoed in her head.

Sakura sighed. She lifted the boy's head, so she could slide under it. When she did, she placed it on her lap and looked down at her charge.

Being this close to him, Sakura could not help but marveled at how much he resembled Uchiha Sasuke at the age of four or maybe five. She should know. She started liking him at that age.

"You know you're lucky I have a strict policy of not denying people help because of how they look", Sakura tried to joke, but her smile faded and a somber look to over her. "As soon as I deal with the Uchiha, I swear I'll help you little one."

* * *

Sasuke could not sleep. There were too many thoughts swarming in his head. Some were questions, others were curses directed at Madara, but the strongest of the bunch were arguments he came up with to justify his decision since Sasuke kept changing his mind.

Luckily for Sasuke, this would all end soon. Really soon. According to Madara, Itachi's eyes would become Sasuke's in less than three days. The transplant would be done by a _specialist _working under the Akatsuki.

"_Three days_." At the thought of it, Sasuke's insides moved in such a way that made him want to hurl.

"_Get it together, Uchiha!"_

Sasuke looked at the candle Madara lit earlier for motivation. But instead of replaying the moment he realized his eyes were useless to him, Sasuke began to unwittingly recall a memory he had buried inside him with the rest of its kind.

He fought against it. To keep it from playing. But despite his best efforts, he started to visualize the garden in the Uchiha manor; a person was sitting in front of it with his legs crossed.

Sasuke lunged for the open drawer in his nightstand; fingers searching for the only thing that could keep his memories away. He took the pouch containing his cure, but, before he opened it, the memory started to play, rendering him helpless to the pain his memories always left behind.

"_Older brother! Older brother!" _ _A seven-year-old Sasuke yelled. He had both his arms at his sides, his hands forming fists, and a face red with annoyance._

_Today was one of those rare days Itachi was home without a mission, and Sasuke was determined to have his Older Brother teach him a new technique like he promised twenty- seven trillion times to do. Sasuke had counted. _

_There was only one problem with Sasuke's plan for the day and the reason for being annoyed at his older brother. _

_Itachi was ignoring him, too preoccupied examining something he was holding up in his hand. _

_Sasuke's sensitive temper flared. He hated being ignored._

_A mischievous smirk appeared on his lips. _

_Sasuke took a couple of steps back, placed his hands on the floor, raised his bottom slightly upward – taking the position of a professional runner – and raced to tackle Itachi to the ground._

"_Payback time", Sasuke thought. _

_Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump_

_This would teach his older brother to not ignore him anymore_

_Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump_

_The sounds of Sasuke's footsteps stop as he launched at Itachi and ….was stop in midair by two fingers pressed against his forehead._

_Sasuke fell to the ground with a thud._

"_Awww, that's not fair Older Brother!" Sasuke tried not to pout. He was not about to reduce himself to such childish tactics in front of Itachi. _

"_Next time try not to sound like a stampede of wild horses, Sasuke", Itachi said, removing his onyx eyes from the match he was holding and glancing down at his brother with a stern expression. Sasuke thought it didn't suit him at all. _

"_I didn't." Sasuke looked to the side, this time pouting. "Anyways, why were you ignoring me? I hate it when people ignore me", and then said, so it did not sound like he was whining, "It's rude."_

_Itachi could not help but smile. Sasuke noticed a light coming to his brother's eyes that made him look livelier than minutes before. Those eyes were now considering him carefully. _

"_Sasuke", Itachi called his brother's attention and suddenly asked, "have you heard about the Will of Fire?"_

_Sasuke nodded eagerly at Itachi, wanting to show he had been studying like he was told and caring little for the sudden topic._

"_It's the philosophy of the Senju Clan, passed from one generation of Shinobi to another", Sasuke recited what the text said. "It's the belief that love-"at the word Sasuke's face scrunched up in disgust, "is the key to end wars. Suppose…Supposed…"_

"_Supposedly", Itachi offered._

"_Supposedly, it gives Shinobi the strength to fight."_

_Sasuke looked at Itachi pleased with himself. Itachi nodded, indicating Sasuke had done well._

"_What do you think about it?" Itachi asked causally, not meeting Sasuke's eyes._

_Sasuke shrugged uncertainly. He was rarely asked for his opinion. Mostly, his father told him want to think. This was not to say that Sasuke did not have an opinion. He did, but he did not want to voice it to later find out Itachi did not like it._

"_Sasuke", Itachi encouraged._

"_Well, I think that physical strength and lots of jutsu are what make a Shinobi. Like Father always says", Sasuke added at the end. In the ears of his clan, the words of Uchiha Fugaku were always true._

_Itachi frowned at his brother's answer and looked like he wanted to scowl. Seeing this, made Sasuke get a little panicky. Did he say something wrong?_

"_What do you think, Older Brother?"_

_Itachi sighed and stood up from the ground._

"_I think the Senju have it right, Sasuke. Sometimes victory is brought by something other than jutsus."_

_Sasuke gaped at his older brother with wide eyes. He had not expected THAT answer. _

_Itachi laughed at his little brother. A genuine laugh that made Sasuke wish he would do it more often. _

"_Wipe that expression from your face before Father sees it and scolds you for it", Itachi said then beckoned to him. "Let's show you those moves I've been promising to teach you. What do you say?"_

_Immediately, Sasuke's face turned bright with happiness and excitement. _

"_And if we leave now, we can probably see that girl you – what do you call it? – ah, tolerate so much." Sasuke felt his face become hot._

"_I don't know what you are talking about, Older Brother. She's annoying!"_

_Looking down at him with a knowing look, Itachi ruffled Sasuke's hair and said, "Foolish little brother. I hope you're not this clueless when you're older."_

Panting hard for air, Sasuke frantically took the pills and swallowed them without water.

After a couple of minutes, he felt his heart returning to its normal rate, and the mental walks he used to block his unwanted memories forming. He was glad. They were his greatest weapon against memories that rendered him weak and sentimental. It finally seem like sleep was possible, and Sasuke was grateful for it, so the young Uchiha raised his body to his bed and fell flat on his back. He laid there for a while, trying hard to not reflect on his memory and was beginning to drift off to sleep when he heard a noise that made him frown. He recognized that noise. It was the same one from earlier.

Someone was crying.

Sasuke got to his elbows, listening intently. The sobs were faint, but they were there. He was sure he was not imagining anything.

He did not like it, but yet, his curiosity got the best of him. Who could be crying in the Akatsuki hideout? Karin – his obsessive fangirl – was no longer there to cry about him at night, and Sasuke knew the Akatsuki had no prisoners caged up and torturing.

He was now outside his bedroom. Looking from one side of the stone corridor to another, making sure the way was clear. It was and he took advantage of it, hurrying – as much as his injury allowed – to the left.

If one knew the reason why Sasuke was up and about in the corridor and in his condition, the person would ask why would he bother? He was a criminal and an Uchiha at that; a combination that left little room for compassion and comfort. The answer was simple in Sasuke's opinion. He was curious, and he always satisfied his curiosity. Secondly, he needed to shut up whoever was crying. He was injured and needed sleep, which he could not get when someone was making enough noise for his sensitive ears to pick up.

Two voices stopped him just as he was going to turn around a corner. One he instantly recognized as Madara's alter ego - Toby. The other sounded extremely familiar to him but could not place it. It was condescending and soft. Its familiarity gave send shills running down his spine.

Sasuke hid in the shadows and flatten his back against the wall. He then carefully lowered his chakra and east dropped on the conversation.

"Are you sure there is no damage to his eyes?" that was Toby. Ever cheerful, his voice was one of innocent mischief. It did not betray the evil that was behind it.

"Positive. I managed to remove the substance without difficulty since I have experience with Grass Shinobi and their tricks. He should heal in a couple of days."

"Good. I want my _friend _in there in good condition. He is too important. We must be careful with him-"

Toby was abruptly cut off as someone began to hit a door with cries loud enough to raise the dead.

Sasuke heard as Madara opened the door and speak in his sickening, cheerful voice, "Hey, there! You shouldn't do that. You can really hurt yourself you know. Why don't you come here and rest. I'm sure after a good nap you'll feel much better."

A voice spoke, too quiet for Sasuke to hear from his hiding spot, but he got a gist of it from what Toby said next.

"Don't worry, about them. I am sure Asuka and your brother are safe. If you want, I'll help you look for them, but you need to rest first."

There was a minute of silence that ended when Madara closed the door again and the stranger spoke.

"Do you need me to give him something, my lord?"

"No, I need him to trust me and not be suspicious."

The stranger sounded doubtful as he said, "Are you sure? Sasuke could hear about this? "

"Are you questioning my judgment?" Toby questioned in a low, threatening voice, not suited for Toby but made for Madara.

"I'm sorry my lord. It won't happen again", the stranger repented without fear.

"Good. Now follow me. We have much to discuss, starting with Sasuke. His procedure needs to go as planned."

Madara and the stranger walked on the opposite direction from where Sasuke was. When he could no longer hear their voices and detect their presence, Sasuke came out of hiding and headed to where they had been standing.

There was a wooden door, and if Sasuke was correct, it was locked with chakra. He narrowed his eyes in concentration at the challenge the lock door presented. If he unlocked the door, Madara was bound to know as soon as the chakra was disrupted that someone was opening the door and–

_Wait a minute. Why am I worrying about Madara finding out? If he didn't want me to find out, he should throw his prisoners in the dungeons where I can't hear them. Besides, it's my bussiness to find out what that weasel is hiding from me. _

And so it happened that whoever was crying inside the room decided to resume the flood of tears. Without a minute to loose, Sasuke used his chakra, flung the door, and imperiously entered the room. He did not stop until he was in front the source of his irritation.

The irritation was sitting on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest, and her forehead pressed against them, too intent in her sobbing to look up.

Sasuke's initial thought was why was this person here? And how she managed to follow them?

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Sasuke demanded furiously, reaching for the girls arm.

* * *

Against the odds, the young travelers have managed to escape from death. Caught between a war of light vs. dark, they must face the questions and danger their identity brings. At the same time, a leader faces the tricks fate has in store for all of them.

Next Time in

Hidden Leaf Revelations:

Strange

**A/N: Hi, I want to begin by thanking those of you who reviewed the last chapter. I enjoyed reading your comments and also the suggestions you made. I can't thank you enough. Secondly, I do want to apologize for how long it has taken me to upload this chapter. It just that it was difficult for me to switch from academic writing to fun, informal writing, and I had many obligations at school to concentrate on this project. I do expect that it won't take me months to upload since I don't have too many obligations at school anymore. I do look forward to hearing from you all and do not hesitate to make suggestions. **

**Thank you **


	6. Strange: Part 1

Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_ nor do I claim to own its characters.

**Strange: Part 1**

Sasuke glared down at the girl, tightening his grip around her with each passing second she failed to answer him. But Sakura did not oblige; instead, she sunk her teeth into Sasuke's arm, hard.

"Argh!" Sasuke growled in pain, flinging the girl against the bed. He looked from his assaulted arm to the girl. He channeled all his anger to form the infamous Uchiha Glare. It was those seconds of concentration that allowed Sasuke to become collected enough to finally noticed the obvious. The girl in front of him was not Sakura. How could she be? The last time Sasuke saw Sakura she had been sixteen years old. Something the girl in front of him was obviously not.

His assailant could not be older than five, much to his embarrassment. She had short pink hair – a color too abnormal but Sakura managed to look quite well with it – that parted in the middle and faint bangs that covered her forehead. Sasuke could not see her eyes since they were currently bandaged. As for the rest of her appearance, it was dirty with mud and some blood. He wasn't sure whose blood it was because, apart from a few gashes on her face and cuts on her arms, the girl's major injury seemed to be that underneath bandages.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked suspiciously, wondering what a child was doing at Akatsuki's hideout. The girl – who was currently cowering against the bed – looked like she was about to cry, but she didn't answer.

"Are you related to Haruno Sakura?" he grilled, struggling to keep himself from strangling the girl.

The girl pursed her lips tightly enough to turn them white and turned her head to the side.

"ANSWER ME GIRL!" he exploded, taking a couple of steps forward.

"I'm not a girl!" was what she finally said with indignation, making Sasuke stop in his tracks.

"What?" he asked stupidly. His mind became blank and felt at loss for words. He thought he had heard right. He looked at the child from top to bottom and then again. He supposed she might be a boy. His hair was too short in the back, and his voice was not feminine enough. His eyes went to the boy's hair, not fully convinced. Just what king of a boy had the decency and self-assurance to walk in public with pink hair? There was another way to find out, but that just too disturbing to try.

Feeling like something needed to be said, Sasuke cleared his throat and asked, "What are you doing here? Where are your parents?"

Silence.

"Speak already! You already proved you're no mute."

"Sasuke", both boys turned to the open doorway where Toby stood, arms at his side. "I doubt yelling at the boy will encourage him to open up to you. You're scaring him", he chided.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at man, "What is he doing here?" From the corner of his left eye, he saw the boy crawling to the corner and slamming his head into the wall. He was momentarily pleased as he felt the boy deserved it – but the moment faded as soon as the boy started to cry.

"Sasuke, looked what you've done!" the masked-man accused and walked to where the boy was, picked him up, and carried him over to the bed.

"You stay here", he told the boy as he sat him down, "and you follow me", he said, speaking to Sasuke.

Having satisfied his curiosity and having no reason to stay, Sasuke followed Toby out the door into the corridors without looking back at the boy.

"I am surprised at you, Sasuke" the deep voice of Madara replaced Toby's. "Picking on children; I never took you for a bully", he teased as they made their way to Sasuke's room.

The younger Uchiha settled back into his indifferent front. "Who is he?"

"An orphan I found. There are many of them now, you know." Sasuke nodded at this. It was true that with the rise of the Fourth War the death toll – especially of those around their twenties to forties – had risen, living many children parentless.

"Why did you bring him here?" He knew Madara had no drop of nobility in him. He was not proven wrong.

"It's simple, really. My organization is losing members, and they need to be replaced. Children like him can be molded into a weapon that will suit my future needs."

Weapons. Everyone around Madara was nothing but a tool to him. He was truly a disgusting thing.

"_Just like me", _he thought. He too manipulated people when his plans required it. Karin was an example of that.

They turned a corner. Sasuke's bedroom was insight, which he was grateful for. He had no desire to spend another second with Madara.

" Have you changed your mind yet?" such a simple question, but one that made Sasuke's heart pound so hard it hurt.

"No", Sasuke said tightly, looking straight head.

"I'm glad to hear that. You'll see how powerful you'll become once you have the eternal mangekyou."

Footsteps echoing in the corridor saved Sasuke from hearing more from Madara. Both Uchiha's stopped to see who was coming. Out from the shadows, Suigetsu walked forward until he was within speaking distance.

The purple-eyed Shinobi gave a curt nod to Sasuke, which the latter returned, and proceeded to give Madara his full attention, acting as if Sasuke was not there. "You called?"

Sasuke was not taken back by the behavior Suigetsu had adopted around him lately. Ever since Suigetsu learned – from Madara of all people – that he had sacrificed Karin, he tended to regard Sasuke with some hostility. He only remained in the same room with the Uchiha when a mission demanded and spoke only if he needed to. He still followed orders, but Sasuke was well aware that any grain of loyalty and trust Suigetsu held for him was lost. There was no doubt that if he was not careful he would be double crossed by him.

"Yes, I have a mission for you and Jugo. You two will retrieve something important for me. That is if Sasuke doesn't mind me using you two."

Surprise colored Suigetsu's features, and Sasuke could not blame him because he too was surprised, but held on to his mask. Madara had never given Suigetsu or Jugo any mission that didn't involve Sasuke. Suigetsu finally composed himself and looked at Sasuke questioningly, wanting to know what he wanted him to do.

Sasuke shrugged, signaling he could care less if Madara used his team members for missions without consulting him. He continued on to his room, leaving the two alone. It seemed that the double crossing would come sooner than expected, and he could not shake off the feeling that it would not be Suigetsu to do it. He had to be careful and trust in no one but himself. He was alone; a thought that surprisingly made him feel cold with loneliness.

* * *

Sakura opened her mouth – nothing came out.

She tried again, and, still, the result was the same. She stretched her hand but pulled it back before it could do some damage. Feeling awkward, she settled for looking anywhere but at the little intimidator in front of her.

The boy sat with his legs folded underneath his thighs; his hands placed on them with his back straight as a board. Whoever the boy's parents were, they had taught their child the importance of a good posture.

"_**Say something**_", Inner-Sakura urged. "**He has not moved for fifteen minutes**."

Sakura bit her lip uncertainly. As usual, she could not think of a single appropriate thing to say. It was not like she could rely on socially-accepted topics. She could picture the disaster they would cause.

"The weather looks nice, right? What's that? Oh, right, you can't see…er…How did you sleep? Yes, nightmares do tend to make one restless."

Like she said, it would be a disaster. She felt like her inner-self was asking for a tall order. It was still too early in the morning, and she had no caffeine in her system. And without it, she was pretty much useless.

With nothing but silence in the room, they could clearly hear the rain drops falling. The sky had yet to clear, leaving grey clouds to hover over the village. It made the atmosphere gloomy and - in Sakura's opinion – ominous.

"_**Try some jokes**_", Inner-Sakura suggested, caring little for Sakura's lack of humor.

It was at this time that Sakura once again wondered where Naruto had gone to. He had yet to return, and the situation clearly demanded him. He was good at cheering people up.

The bed underneath her creaked, and Sakura was surprised to find the boy bowing in front of her.

She had little time to register what he was doing before he spoke.

"I'm Uchiha Itachi. Thank you for taking caring of me."

Sakura's mouth fell open, and she swore that for a moment her vision went black.

"W-what did you say y-your name was?" she squeaked at the end. Was it her or were the walls moving? She needed to lie down.

"I believe" the deep, lazy-like voice of her sensei came. She whipped her head to the door where Kakashi and Shikamaru were coming in, "he said his name is Uchiha Itachi."

He said it clearly and without faltering. Sakura gaped at him, wondering why he was collected and not going crazy like she was.

"Kakashi-sensei", she said, and at the name, the boy's ears perked up. He looked around, searching for someone desperately.

"Kakashi-sensei?" he asked with a mixture of hope and uncertainty. Sakura got the impression the boy knew her master. Kakashi tapped the boy's shoulder. He was standing behind him. The boy didn't move, but a second later he turned around and threw himself at the Hokage.

"Sensei!" he cried and a hurried voice said: "we did as you told us. But…Asuka and Jun are dead. And my brother –." Kakashi had placed a hand on the top of the boy's head to calm him. The tears coming out of his eyes were rolling down the side of his eyes, where the bandages where not too tight.

"Sakura", her sensei called, but she didn't hear. She was too confused by what was going on. Kakashi-sensei knew the boy. The boy whose name was Uchiha Itachi. An Uchiha Itachi that looked like Sasuke. Most importantly, why couldn't the room stop spinning?

"Haruno!"

Sakura looked at her sensei dazed. She was sure her mouth was still hanging open.

"I believe you have somewhere else to be."

It took a couple of tries before she could manage a weak nod. "Y-yes, but he – his name is…"

"I will take care of it from here", he sensei said firmly.

"But –"

Kakashi looked pointedly at her and then at the door. The message was clear. He wanted her out, yet Sakura could not go. She didn't want to. She wanted to hear what the boy had to say – to understand just who in the world the boy was.

"I will speak with you later", Kakashi told her when he saw she would not move unless she was given something. "And Sakura…don't tell Naruto."

"Sensei –" Sakura was about to protest.

"Later, Sakura", he repeated firmly.

Expecting nothing better from the Hokage, Sakura reluctantly got up from the bed and headed to door. She shot a questioning look at Shikamaru on her way out, but he averted his eyes. As soon as she stepped out the room, the door closed behind her with a snap. The guards from the night before were still there. She wondered if they heard what was said and if they did, would they tell anyone? This worried her. Uchihas were not as popular as they used to be in Konoha.

"_What just happened_?" she asked herself as her legs carried her to where the stairs were.

"_**His name is Uchiha Itachi. Damned it! **_", Inner-Sakura spat. Where Sakura was confused and incredulous, her inner-self was angry and a bit curious.

"_And_ _he knows Kakashi-sensei. I am not crazy am I?" _the last question came out desperate and pleading.

"**No. You were lucid back there**."

Sakura climbed down the empty stairs, not paying attention to where she was going. She asked herself how could it be that there was another Uchiha. All, except Sasuke, Itachi, and Madara, died during the Uchiha Massacre. Her Inner-self had an answer ready. It was possible that Itachi had a son no one knew about.

Sakura was about to ask if her inner-self truly believed that when she recalled a forgotten memory.

"_Save…save Itachi and_-" the woman, no Asuka, had pleaded. At the time, Sakura thought Asuka was talking about Itachi of the Akatsuki.

She was too submerged in her thoughts to notice she missed a step until she felt her body ready to fall. Her hands searched for something to hold and found nothing but air. She shut her eyes, readying herself for the impact.

She didn't feel it. Instead, she felt as two thin, yet strong arms circled around her body and held her, preventing her from falling. She opened her eyes and saw Naruto at the bottom of the stairs, holding a white box in his left hand and two cups in his right; one foot on the first step.

"**That was close**" her Inner-self said.

Sakura turned her head slightly to the side to get a better look at her savior and met a set of lavender eyes looking at her with worry.

"Hinata", Sakura said breathlessly. She pulled away and studied herself with the help of Hyuga girl. She then bowed at the girl. "Thank-you."

Hinata returned the bow. Her long, midnight-blue hair slid to the side.

"It was nothing, Sakura. But you're not hurt, are you?"

Sakura replied she was fine as Naruto climbed to the step beside Hinata. Sakura could smell the distinctive smell of ramen, steaming from the box he was holding.

"Sakura what happened back there? You need to pay more attention", he said, a tint of fear in his eyes. Sakura didn't like this was coming from Naruto the Oblivious. It's not like she could have died if Hinata had not been there. She was a ninja after all.

"I didn't see where I was going Naruto. I had things in my mind, but _you_, where have you been?" she said, placing her hands on her waist.

"Nowhere" Naruto responded offhandedly. "And just what things on your minds almost made you break your neck?"

And this was how Sakura was reminded of the little Uchiha inside a hospital room, and how Naruto needed to know of his existence immediately. She discreetly looked at Hinata, who was busy calming Naruto down. Sakura trusted the girl, but it was better to tell him when they were alone. So instead of answering, Sakura changed the topic.

"Are you here to visit anyone, Hinata?" Sakura tried to remember if any of the other members of the Rookies slipped into the battle field.

Hinata blushed, which was not surprising considering Naruto was standing next to her. Her crush on the boy had yet to die down as far as she knew. What came as a surprise was that the blonde shinobi also turned red and looked uncomfortable.

Her inner-self crossed her arms and said with annoyance "_**What is that about?**_"

Hinata cleared her throat before answering, "Er…No. Neji asked me to come. He said he forgot to tell you that your meeting is at ten. He'll wait for you at the ANBU Headquarters."

"That's right. He never said when and where we were meeting. That's very unlike him."She considered Hinata for a moment. She hoped the girl could help her and Naruto understand her cousin a bit more. Despite knowing him for years, Sakura knew very little personal details about their captain except for his former contempt for the main house of the Hyuga and how a stickler for rules he was.

"Hinata, do you know what's wrong with Neji. He's been acting more irritable than usual."

At the questioned, Hinata's face fell into a sad expression. She looked as vulnerable as a child.

"Please, forgive him. You see, my cousin has been under a lot of pressure from the clan since his promotion, more so than before. It's making him more…testy."

"That's one way to put it", Naruto muttered under his breath. Silently, Sakura agreed with Naruto. Hinata always tried to look the best in others and was not the kind to point out their flaws out in the open. She was simply nice, sometimes too nice for her own good.

Sensing someone's eyes on her, Sakura turned and caught Naruto watching her intently. Sakura raised one eyebrow at him.

"Do I have something on my face?"

Naruto's gaze did not weaver and asked: "Are you sure you're fine? There's something off about you this morning."

Sakura rolled her eyes for Naruto's benefit. No, she was not fine, but she could hardly tell him why. "Naruto, honestly, I am fine. I was not paying attention. That's all. You don't need to behave like my father. I have one you know."

A soft giggle made Sakura frowned at Hinata. She didn't say anything funny. The girl just smiled at her.

"Speaking of fathers, mine is waiting for me. Have a good day you two. And Naruto, remember what I said."

Sakura waited until Naruto and she were alone to ask what Hinata was talking about. She was surprise once again by the blush that spread across Naruto's face.

"**What did she mean by that**?" Inner-Sakura wanted to know, and Sakura asked again.

"Jealous, Sakura?"

"Hardly", and then added: "but it looks like your finally coming around to Hinata. That's good. She suits you."

She knew that was the wrong thing to say to him the minute she took in his face. A dark shadow was cast upon it. Without a second to loose, Naruto climbed the stairs, passing Sakura and not stopping until he was well above her.

Very quietly to the point where Sakura wondered if she had heard right, he said: "you never meant it. Did you, Sakura?"

Sakura blinked, not knowing what Naruto was talking about. "What you –"

"Forget it", Naruto cut in. "Just give me a minute."

She obliged, too worried to be offended by his attitude. When he turned to faced her, he wore the care-free expression that was his trade mark. Anyone could have been fooled by it, but not her. She could see just how forced it was.

"Forget it", he repeated. "What do you say we have breakfast with the little man", he indicated with his head to the wooden box in his arm.

Knowing what was on the box, Sakura was not as excited as her fried. "Naruto, I don't think he likes ramen. He doesn't…seem like the type."

At that, Naruto beamed at her. And this time, the smile was genuine. "Sakura! You don't know this because you're not that much into Ramen, but trust me. The kid likes ramen."

Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but Naruto cut her off.

"We ramen lovers can spot each other", he said as if the statement settled the matter. "But just in case, I brought 'normal' breakfast. Oh, here. I know how grumpy you get in the morning without your tea" He handed her one of the white cups he was holding.

Sakura took it gratefully. "Thank you", she said and immediately took a sip, tasting in her tongue the taste of the green leaves. A soothing feeling coursed through her body. She felt like she was in heaven.

"**Earth to Sakura. Don't become side-tracked. Now decide if you're going to tell him or not"**, her inner-self interrupted her world of bliss.

"Naruto", Sakura called the attention of the blonde, who had been taking a sip of his own tea. Sakura could still tell how much he was forcing himself to appear normal before her. Whatever she had said to make him upset was still bothering him. What would it do to him if she told him what she learned about the boy?

"_Don't tell Naruto_", Kakashi-sensei had told her. There was a reason why he wanted to keep this from Naruto, and she had an idea of what the reason was.

"I… need a shower", she said lamely.

"**Good girl.**" Sakura felt guilty, but it was for the best. Naruto had already made peace about killing Sasuke, but she, like Kakashi, knew that news that the little boy was indeed an Uchiha would cloud his judgment. He would think that Sasuke's nephew was the key to stopping their former friend without killing him.

"_He doesn't deserved it_", Sakura thought. After all the evil he committed, he didn't deserve forgiveness, and she knew would not be the only one to think so.

"I need to shower", she repeated. "And you need to get ready. It's almost ten."

Naruto's shoulders deflated with disappointed. He had been looking forward to seeing the kid again. "Fine. Maybe I can get on Neji's good side if I bring him food."

**To BE Continued**

A/N: Happy Holidays!

Sorry for the delay. I been studying for the LSAT and finally took the exam on the third. Now, I will have to wait for what schools will accept me into their program.

Look for the next chapter this coming week. I have corrected the errors on the previous chapters, and I can't believe that despite my proof reading sessions I managed to miss several errors. In chapter one, for example, I spelled Hawk as Hack…embarrassing - _ - If you know of an awesome beta-reader, please suggest one to me.


	7. Strange: Part 2

**Edited: 7/13/12**

Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_ or its Characters.

**Strange: Part 2**

Neji didn't eat the food despite Naruto coaxing him to take it. And it was not hard to see why Naruto's efforts failed. When the three of them entered the room, Neji barley acknowledged them from the front of the table where he was too engrossed in his writing to pay complete attention to them.

Quietly, Sakura, Naruto, and Sai – they had run into him on the roof tops on their way to headquarters – had taken seats around the table and watched their captain work.

Neji was not his usual pristine self. His brown hair was – instead of being tied into a low ponytail - loose and getting on his way. His eyes were blood shot and had dark circles under them. It was obvious their captain did not heed his own order.

Sakura took a piece of tamagoyaki, too hungry to show some restrain. Not having anyone to talk to – Naruto was preoccupied with his own breakfast and Sai was pointedly ignoring them – Sakura had nothing better to do but look around the room. She had to admit she was impressed by the resources the ANBU provided to its members.

The small room they were using was in the tactics wing of the ANBU headquarters. It was the room assigned to their unit (each unit was given their own room). It was furnished with a table and chairs, white board, a medium size bookcase containing jutsu and strategy books, and a mini-fridge. The walls were covered with maps of each country and pictures of the ten most wanted Shinobi. Sakura avoided the picture of Criminal Number Two.

"Finished", Neji's satisfied voice was heard. He rose from his seat, stretched his stiff muscles, and began pacing, organizing his thoughts into what he wanted to say first. After a minute, he figured he should just start with what had been hunting him for the past two days.

In Sakura's opinion, Neji would benefit from not being too blunt.

"We are the ridicule of this village", he began; his voice hard and unfaltering. "We were the ones given the chance to bring back peace and honor to this village, and we blew it. No – don't interrupt me, Naruto – you all know it's true. We failed, but –" he looked to each of his subordinate's eyes and felt the heat of determination blazing in his eyes, "we can learn from our mistakes. And this time, we will succeed."

Neji settled the piece of paper in front of him. Sakura edge over her seat to get a better look, but she couldn't make out what the neat, elegant writing said.

"We will succeed by preparing for the unexpected and using the best this team has to offer", he threw a look at Naruto, who was slurping his ramen. Sensing all eyes on him, Naruto slurped the last of his ramen before giving a nervous chuckle.

Neji gave one last reprimanding look at Naruto before continuing, "I believe that I had it right when I agreed to follow Naruto's suggestion of dividing us into pairs. You see, we have to take Madara into account. He is not going to stay at bay, knowing Sasuke is in danger."

"So you're suggesting we divide into pairs again?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, and this is how it will go", he said, tapping the paper with a finger. "We don't know under what conditions and exactly where we will confront Sasuke once we arrive at his headquarters, but what I do know is that to kill Sasuke we need to stall Madara."

"Just stalling", Sai stated his dark-eyes bright with understanding.

With a frustrated exhale, Neji said: "I've been thinking about it all night, and I can't think of how to kill Madara. His power and our power are at another playing field. Killing him will take more than the four of us.

Sakura's features changed into a thoughtful expression as she crossed her arms. Madara could not be immortal, could he? There had to be something they were overlooking.

"**Everyone has a weakness, even Madara**" Inner Sakura reminded her. "**You just need to think of what that weakness is.**"

Neji cleared his throat and continued: "But our target is not Madara. So the plan will go as follows. We need those with the greatest amount of stamina to hold him off while the fastest go after Sasuke. But most importantly, what we need is bait."

Immediately, Sakura thought of the perfect bait and turned her head to his direction. Naruto had stopped eating and was looking down at his hands expressionlessly.

"I know is dangerous, Naruto but you and I will take on Madara", Neji said calmly. Sakura waited for Naruto to argue, but the blonde ninja remained uncharacteristically quiet.

Waiting for any complaints from his team, Neji paused but once none came, he turned to Sakura and Sai. "It's all on you two. It was not the easiest decision. But, combined, you are strong and fast enough to handle Sasuke. You will win, especially if you use your shield Sakura."

"We can?" Sakura wanted to know. Her confidence level plummeted the moment Neji started talking.

Neji nodded, picking up his pen, "You said that it stopped the _chidori, _Sasuke's favorite technique._"_

"Yes, but my shield has not been perfected", Sakura admitted, kicking herself for not using the free time she had to work on it. "And Uchiha was not at full power last time. There was something off about him", she said as she recalled his labored breathing and the cataract in his eyes, so miniature she could not rule out the possibility it was dust. She told the group as much.

Neji considered this and when he spoke, he did so slowly as if remembering something from long ago. "I heard a tale once about Madara. It was said that he and his brother gained the mangekyō, but it was Madara who inevitably went blind because he over used the power. He had no choice but to take his brothers."

"And you think that Uchiha is going through the same situation and will take Itachi's" Sakura concluded, feeling a little sick to her stomach.

"That's exactly what I think."

"How? Itachi is dead." That was Naruto who looked pale and was gripping the edge of the table with his hands.

"I don't know how. But remember this, his body was never found. Madara could be preserving it, waiting for the right time to give the eyes to Sasuke. Now, I don't know Sasuke as well as you two, but I know him well enough to say he hates losing. He will feel the urge to take his brother's eyes."

Somberly, Naruto and Sakura agreed. Sasuke hated to lose, and in his mind, he saw what happened as loosing. And defeat always prompted Sasuke to seek more power.

"For this reason, it's imperative we consider this thoroughly. Sakura, how exactly does that shield of yours work?"

With all eyes on her again, Sakura proceeded to describe the mechanisms of her shield. She told them that the way it worked was she concentrated a calculated amount of chakra in her palms while visualizing the form her shield will take. As the chakra begins to radiate, it spreads, taking the visualized form. Depending on Sakura's intentions, the shield could be small or large. She concluded by telling them that the longest period of time she managed to maintain her shield was ten seconds, by which time her shield came down.

"Why don't you add more chakra to keep it going?" Sai suggested, speaking to her for the first time in hours.

Blushing, Sakura murmured it was not the chakra but her stamina that was the problem.

Neji scribbled what Sakura had said on his paper.

* * *

"Unbelievable", Shikamaru said, slumping onto the chair before the Hokage's desk. His face showed the disbelief he felt from hearing what the child had said to them hours ago. Kakashi could not blame him. It was a lot to take in and swallow. Fortunately for Kakashi, he had already gone through the process.

"But it's an explanation of why that tree reacted the way it did. You did research what asked you to research?" Kakashi asked, leaning forward, eager to hear if his suspicions were true.

"I did. But let me tell you it was a pain getting the librarian to let me touch the book. You would have thought I was planning to steal the thing from the surveillance I received" Shikamaru complained.

"One cannot be too careful when it comes to a diary written by Sage of the Sixth Paths", Kakashi simply said and then laughed. He too had his encounters with the irritable librarian who tended to be too over protective of the library's books.

Shikamaru scoffed at being laughed at for his misfortunes. He had yet to ask what the Hokage was planning to do with the information they acquired from the boy. It had been over an hour since the left they hospital. They would have left sooner, but they waited until the child fell asleep since he refused to part from the Hokage. In the mean time, they passed the time asking the boy questions about his life, careful not to make him suspicious to the fact they were not the people he thought them to be.

Shikamaru shook his head in disbelief one more time, recalling all he learned. It all made him his head spin. And to be honest, he found the situation too troublesome. If he had the option, he would ignore it. It was a pity Kakashi was in charge. He shifted his wary eyes to the Hokage; he had a feeling the older man has planning to do something very foolish and downright stupid.

Kakashi sensed Shikamaru's eyes on him. The young Shinobi probably wanted to know what he was planning to do now. But really, there was nothing much he could do. The decision had already been made for him.

"You know, I have a dept to repay", Kakashi said, wanting Shikamaru to understand his reasons. "It was years ago; a teammate gave his life to save mine and our friend's."

"So by saving Sasuke, you are repaying your friend?" Shikamaru stated. "Letting personal matters get in the way of your duty is not something a Hokage should allow."

Kakashi had to chuckle at that.

"You are young, Shikamaru, but I think you have discovered the answer to that one already", he said, thinking about Shikamaru's dead sensei and how the Shinobi had risked his life and that of his team mates to avenge their mentor's death. "Everything we do is personal to some degree or another."

Shikamaru gave a tired sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "You do realize this will bring all kinds of trouble? The Alliance won't allow it. The Kage's are all dead set on beheading Sasuke. To go against them means a declaration of war from Konoha, not to mention no one in this village will risk their lives for a criminal."

"Oh, I can think of two or three people who will."

Shikamaru was not fully convinced. Kakashi could see it.

"So you are really going to do this?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes", he said. "And I will start by convincing the one who will carry out my plan."

Kakashi rose from his desk and crossed the room to open the door. Outside, pacing from one side to another was an anxious Sakura. She was muttering to herself, but her words were too fast and low for Kakashi to know what she was saying.

"What are you doing, Sakura?"

The girl stopped and took in the stares she was getting.

"Exercise", she said in a hurry.

"Is that so? Well, come in", Kakashi opened the door wider to let the girl in. "Naruto is not around is he?" As much as it pained him to do it, he needed to keep the blonde in the shadows for now if his plan was to succeed. "Have you seen the boy?"

Sakura shook her head. "I thought it was best if I didn't."

"Poor little guy. He was hoping you would come by while he was awake."

A tender smile lit up Sakura's face; one that was rarely seen on the kunoichi. It was a reassurance that what Kakashi was planning to do was the right thing to do.

"Kakashi-sensei, is the boy an Uchiha?" Sakura said, getting straight to the point and hesitating at the last word.

"He is", he confirmed.

"Then… he is Itachi's son", Sakura stated, not considering that there could be another father.

Kakashi shared a look with Shikamaru before answering. The hard part of his plan was coming up. The explanation. This was going to difficult, especially with Sakura being of the rational kind.

"No. He's not Itachi's."

Sakura frowned and slowly found her voice. "Madara's then?"

"No, Sakura", he said adding the truth at the end. "He's Sasuke's."

As fast as lighting, Sakura whirled around. Her eyes wide with shock. Then a thought occurred to her that made her eyebrows knit together. Her voice was unsteady as she said: "Sensei, this boy looks around five. It's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible in this world. There are things that exist beyond reason and logic. The existence of the tail demons is an example."

Sakura looked like she was about to argue back, but she bit her lip. He could tell her mind was struggling to understand, to accept.

"What are you going to do with him?"

"Keep him safe until we bring Sasuke back", Kakashi said, knowing how Sakura would react. He was not disappointed.

"WHAT!" yelled an incredulous Sakura, staring at him like he was insane.

"Lower your voice, Sakura. We don't want to alert the whole village."

"What you said just now…you can't be serious!" she turned to Shikamaru for support. "Tell him. Tell him he can't suggest what he just did."

"Calm down, Sakura. I thought you of all people would understand."

Sakura turned back sharply; her eyes were burning bright with anger.

"Understand what, Sensei? That you're the Hokage, yet you want to commit treason? He's a murder! You saw all the things his done. He even tried to kill you. And now you want him back safe and sound just because he has a son. There's something wrong with you, Kakashi."

While Sakura was out of breath and working on getting it back, Kakashi calmly took something square from his drawer and placed it on his desk, facing Sakura.

"That's not fair", she accused in a low voice, not taking her eyes off the picture of Team Seven, taken years ago.

Kakashi felt no shame as he asked, "do you trust me, Sakura? If you do then, you know I have my reasons for what I am going to ask you to do. But know this is not only for Sasuke. This is for you and Naruto."

Unexpectedly, she began to step away from him with the intention of leaving.

"You can't just keep changing you mind, sensei. Not everyone is as strong as you", Sakura said softly, reluctant to meet his eye. "I – I have to go. I need to prepare for tomorrow."

Kakashi raised himself to full height. He wasn't completely sure Sakura would follow through. He could only hope.

"Bring him alive, Sakura", he ordered.

* * *

He didn't seem the type, given his cheerful personality, but Naruto liked the rain. It had its usefulness.

When he was younger – about eight years old – he had been the Hated Orphan of Konoha. The villagers cursed his very existence, treated him like he was dirt. Observing their parents' hate for him, the other kids adopted their behavior. When he was not shunned, he was bullied and cursed at. For any kid his age, this would have sent him straight to tears.

Not Naruto. He waited until it rained. And, as soon as it did, he climbed to the top of the Fourth Hokage's head where he set his pain free, and the rain washed down his tears.

Now, this didn't mean he preferred the rain to the sun. The rain did have its downside. It made him cold, wet, and hungry. Not to mention, it was hard to see through during missions.

Today, he had mixed feelings about the rain. The rain was not cold, but it made it difficult to see where he was going. Luckily, he managed not to fall off the roofs each time he jumped from one on to another.

Naruto yawned.

"Too early", he muttered.

And he was right. It was about six. Most of the villagers were still asleep. That had been Naruto's plan as soon as Neji released them from the drill he had them practice after the meeting. But he didn't get a wink of sleep. And he could guess why.

Ever since Naruto had seen Sasuke again, he had become restless, especially at night. Nothing could calm him down. Not even being next to a sleeping Sakura. His thoughts were traitorous as the waters of the sea. When he least expected, they turned against him. They attacked him on every opportunity they had. Whispering to him what a failure he was for not getting his best friend back, for failing to be loved by Sakura.

Those thoughts.

He hated them as much as he hated the kyuubi trapped inside of him.

Speaking of that ugly demon, he had been unusually talkative these past two days, making snarky remarks whenever he could and enjoying every single moment Naruto felt miserable. He had hoped he wouldn't hear from him again after completing his training with Killer Bee, but it seem that was a blessing that would not come to pass.

"_I will be content watching your demise at that hand of that Uchiha, boy. If I could, I would rip you to threats. Savoring each of your screams. Chewing you slowly to make sure they happen_", he said, overjoyed with what he thought was Naruto's imminent death.

"Piss off", Naruto said, quieting the demon fox for now.

Naruto stopped on top of the house in front of his apartment. The lights were turn off as they were supposed to be. There was no one waiting for him inside. It would just be him and his thoughts.

He didn't want to go in. Today, he wanted his emotions to be free.

Purposely, his feet began to moved, carrying him to a place where he could let his guard down and not have to be afraid of being caught. The monument of the Fourth Hokage was no longer an option. Since learning the Fourth was his father, Naruto felt like he was crying in front of his father. Something no son wanted to do in front of his father if he could help it. So he moved on to another deserted place in the village.

He supposed the Uchiha District became a sort of second haven for him shortly after Sasuke left. He initially came to the district hoping to find answers that could help him understand his former friend a bit more. He thought that if he walked the same deserted streets Sasuke walked every day, he would be given an insight of how life was for the young Uchiha. At first, he was creeped out by the eerie looking houses and the smell of death that seem to be everywhere in the district. It didn't help he only came out at night when there was a small chance he would be caught.

Naruto landed in the center of the district. Sasuke's house was just a short distance away, about a block away.

"_Enjoy your last day of being alive, boy."_ The demon was back, making Naruto groan with frustration. He needed to figure out why his control on the demon was slipping before he was driven insane by him.

While proceeding to Sasuke's house, Naruto's mind wondered back to when Neji said they would be the ones to face Madara. At that moment, Naruto didn't know how to feel. There were so many emotions to choose from, but the ones that stood out were disappointment, sorrow, and anticipation. His opportunity to avenge his parents and his mentor had finally come. Neji had said that killing Madara was not a priority, not knowing the history between Naruto and him. All they needed to do was distract him long enough to give Sakura and Sai time.

Naruto had another plan in mind. He would give it his all to end Madara.

Sasuke's house was large inside and in the back. Inside there were many rooms, and as he had found out during his exploration many years ago, Sasuke's room was the last one in the back. He never went in there. He felt like he had already violated Sasuke's privacy by breaking into his house and entering his room went way over the line. Instead, he entered the dining room and turned the light on.

It was a nice room. There was the wooden table in the middle where the family ate together. On one wall, a banner with the Uchiha crest hung. The family's garden could be seen through a glass door.

Naruto surveyed the room. It had accumulated dust since the last time he came here, well over a month ago. But unlike the last time, he would not clean it nor would he tend to the garden. Sasuke was never coming back. There was no point in looking after his house anymore.

Sitting on one of the cushions, Naruto closed his eyes. He imagined the room clean and bright. The seats around the table were no longer empty. They were occupied by his parents and mentor. His mother was scolding his father for eating his food too fast, setting a bad example for their son. Jiraiya was trying hard not to laugh at his former student's predicament.

This scene and many like it could have been real if it wasn't for Madara.

"_Face it boy, you will never beat him", _the demon laughed. His sinister laugher made it hard for Naruto not to shiver.

"Just watch me and then I'm coming for you!" Naruto shot back, bringing his hand down at the table.

"You're an unusual person, Uzumaki", a woman's voiced said from behind. Naruto turned back, taking a kunai out.

"I mean no harm to you."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to see who she was through the darkness. Upon a closer look, he recognized her. He could never forget a person with such stoic face. He thought that he never seen her smile once, not that there was something to smile about, considering the circumstances under which they kept encountering each other.

Setting that aside, it was odd to find here in the Uchiha District of all places.

As if knowing what he was thinking, Samui simply said, "I followed you here. Although, I never took you for the kind of person to reside in such…depressing places."

Naruto shrugged. "It's quiet. How's Killer Bee?"

He was surprised to find himself actually missing the big oaf. Like him, Killer Bee was a container to a tail demon. It made him kindred spirit of sorts. And if there was one to have news of him, it was Samui since Killer Bee had been her sensei.

"He is well and looking forward to meeting you again. He sends his regards."

Naruto smiled a little at that. He had another thing to look forward to when he came back from his mission. And maybe, Killer Bee could help him with the Kyuubi again.

"So, why did you follow me?" Naruto stood up, dusting himself.

"Uzumaki, I need to know – "

Naruto didn't get the chance to hear the rest. Faint shouts coming from outside, sent the two ninjas quiet and in alert. Spearing a momentary glance to each other, they jumped over the table and headed to the glass door. Naruto yanked it open and followed the direction the shouts were coming from with Samui right beside him.

They saw groups of ninja heading in two directions. One direction was where he knew the prison was located. The other was in the opposite direction where the hospital was. His heart began to beat fast and a feeling of dread took over him.

"Samui!"

Naruto recognized Kankarou's voice. From the corner of his eye, he saw as the puppet master joined the kunoichi. He wondered how the two knew each other.

"What's going on?" Samui inquired.

"Someone attacked the hospital. I heard a kid was taken."

Naruto wasted no time. He changed course, heading to the forest where he knew the kidnapper was heading.

* * *

A couple of hours. That was how much time Sasuke had to wait before the transplant took place. At the moment, Sasuke was in a training room, practicing taijutsu since he was displeased with his last performance.

He should have been resting as Madara told him, but Sasuke hated the idea of lying around, having nothing to do. He was not the most patient person in the world and practicing techniques always made time pass faster for him.

Sasuke shot one fist forward, then another, followed by a round house kick. He wondered how long it would take for his body to adjust to its new eyes. Madara told him not to worry about it, and he didn't. The Alliance would be mobilized and on their way to the Akatsuki hideout while Sasuke recovered, but he was confident enough to think he would be ready in time to face them.

Hmmm. Something had just occurred to him that he had not given much thought to before. Who exactly was going to perform the transplant operation? As far as he knew, Madara's medical knowledge was moderate, not sufficient to perform the procedure himself. And the Akatsuki did not have a medic-nin.

Sasuke got an ominous feeling that made him uncomfortable with the situation. He sensed he was being left out of the loop, again. He recalled how Madara behaved the last time he saw him. Apart from the thing with Suigetsu, nothing came to mind. He went further than that to when he came to Sasuke's room, but – again – Sasuke could not think of anything out of the ordinary. Madara had been as persuasive and irritating as ever. But still, Sasuke could not shake off the feeling – just like the one time Madara ordered Suigetsu - there was something wrong. This time he could not afford relax until he got answers if he was going to be asleep for hours.

So he left the room and set out to find Madara. He didn't know where to start. Madara could be in the dungeons, watching ninjas being tortured for information; the kitchens, eating all the inarizushi; or in the conference room, carefully tracking the moves of the Alliance. Sasuke never had a reason to seek him out. Madara always came to him. He finally decided on checking the conference room first when he heard the boy cry, again.

Sasuke stopped on his tracks.

"_That boy is at it again_", he thought, annoyed with the boy for being so weak and giving to his grief. Sasuke tried to walk away, tuning out the cries. It didn't work. All he thought as he walked was that someone needed to teach the boy a lesson.

Putting the search for Madara on hold, Sasuke changed his direction. He understood the boy had lost his family. He himself lost his at the age of eight. The boy was vulnerable, alone, and most likely afraid. But if he was going to make it in this world, he needed to bury those emotions and become strong, especially if he was going to be used by Madara.

Sasuke found the boy curled up in a ball. His room was lit by three torches in different walls. There was a plate and cup of touched food and water on the floor. The boy looked pitiful, yet Sasuke felt no sympathy for him.

"Stop crying", he said coldly. "Don't you have pride?" If anything, this made the boy cry harder. Annoyed, Sasuke shut the door behind him.

"Boys don't cry. You're father never taught told you that?" he demanded. Sasuke's own father taught him many lessons when he was younger, but the two that he specifically stressed were the one he told the boy and "Everyone is beneath the Uchiha."

To his surprise, the boy nodded.

"Then quit it. You look pathetic."

Again, the boy reacted. He quickly used his sleeve to wipe the tears running down his cheeks. For the first time, Sasuke took note of the boy's clothes. He was wearing a white, long-sleeve shirt, and navy blue shirts. Sasuke couldn't help thinking that the boy would look better with red shirts. Red and white suited pink hair well.

Sasuke waited for the boy to compose himself somewhat. Finding Madara had seized to become a priority. Since he had time to kill, he decided to talk with the boy. Even he knew it was uncharacteristic of him, but he was curious about the boy now that he (the boy) was listening to him. Sasuke started with the most basic question.

"What's your name?"

No answer. Sasuke could feel a vein throbbing on his forehead and his anger rising.

"Why don't you speak?" he asked, and then thinking that the boy's upbringing might have been similar to his, he added. "Did your patents tell you not to talk to strangers?"

A nod. Good. He was on the right track. There was one way he could get past that order. Sasuke could not stop himself from smirking

"You know, we could introduce each other, and then we wouldn't be strangers anymore. I'm Sasuke."

The boy straightened up and gasped. "Sasuke."

"Yes, that's my name", Sasuke said in a barley patient voice. "What's yours?"

The boy leaned on his hands. An excited smile broke on his face. Sasuke wondered what was to be excited about. Maybe the boy heard about him, but then that was not something to be excited about. It was more like something to cower in fear about.

The answer was unexpected.

"Sasuke. My name is Sasuke too!"

** To Be Continued**

A/N: So what do you think? Good, Bad? Please review! This chapter made me uneasy because of the different point of views. Multiple points of view are not my taste, but they were necessary. I would like to thank the messages and subscriptions I received. They are truly encouraging. Thank you! About the next chapter, I expect it will be long, but if everything goes to plan, chapter eight will be the beginning of SasuSaku. About time too!


	8. In the Rain

Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto _or its characters. I just own this fanfiction.

**In the Rain**

Several minutes before Konoha was infiltrated _again_, a girl with red hair and glasses sat in her jail cell, contemplating the roast beef and a glass of the most expensive wine in the village in front of her.

"Life has been cruel to me", Karin, as the girl was named, started. Next to her, the bored-looking Shinobi guarding her raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Very cruel."

"Is that so?" the man yawned. He doubted anyone making an elite ninja village feed her extravagant dishes as she pleased had lived a cruel life.

Karin nodded, expertly using her fingers to rip the meat into small pieces. Her request of silverware had been denied. It was the only thing her interrogators would deny her since Karin did not fuss too much about it.

"Of course! My village was destroyed when I was very young. I was one of its few survivors. I was forced to run away and fend for myself until…Lord Orochimaru found me."

The Bored Shinobi shivered at the name. He had seen photos of the strange, pale man. He could not wrap his head around how such a weirdo was a former Konoha ninja.

Karin did not notice the man's reaction and continued. "I was exploited by him. He forced me to do hard labor and help him experiment on innocent people…yes, Lord Orochimaru was my downfall."

Karin leaned forward, her red eyes fixed on her guard. "Tell me, sir, have you ever been in love?"

The man shrugged his shoulders noncommittally and idly wondered how they gone from Orochimaru to love. "No, not really."

"Good for you! Don't ever do it!" she exclaimed, pointing a finger at the man. "Fall in love and you'll be taken advantage of. He will use you and throw you away like trash. You're better off having one night stands."

The man blinked. Without pointing out he like females, he asked with a disgusted tone: "You fell in love with Orochimaru?"

Karin nearly choked on her food. It took several attempts before she could clear her throat. After swallowing the piece that nearly caused her death, she finally managed a, "Ew! No. I admit I like power and pretty-faces, but Lord Orochimaru was no pretty face. And between you and me, I thinking he was batting for the other team if you get what I mean. No, he was my downfall because it was through him I met his apprentice, Sasuke."

At the mentioned of this particular traitor, the shinobi's face darkened. He actually looked intimidating, which was hard to do for someone who was generally lazy.

"Uchiha", he spat bitterly. Uchiha Sasuke was the shinobi he specifically disliked. Back when the boy was still a Konoha genin, he was considered the village's treasure. Everyone respected his talent, and he was a favorite to win all his matches during his chunin exams. The village had high hopes for the boy. To see what the boy admired by all had become was more than disappointing. It was humiliating. Konoha became the laughing stock in shinobi circles and gained the reputation as the village where protégées went dark.

The Bored Shinobi could not forgive him for dishonoring his village.

"Good reaction", Karin approved and cleaned her fingers with a napkin. "You know, I gave up three meals a day, a warm bed, and plenty of clothes for Sasuke. Sure, my home was noisy, especially at night, but what can you expect when living in a prison?"

_Maybe life had been hard for her_, the shinobi thought. _To be so young yet confined to a prison_.

"You lived in a prison?"

"Yes. I was the jailer for one of Orochimaru bases", she replied, not really paying attention to her words.

_Or not_.

"I mean I was _forced_ to be one."

"…"

"But that is irrelevant. What I am trying to say is don't fall in love unless you want to die. One night stands will preserve your life."

The Bored Shinobi blinked. He suddenly wished himself somewhere else, away from the crazy girl in front of him. He now had an incentive to work harder and not be placed on guard duty anymore. He would have his little sister wake him up in time starting tomorrow.

While this shinobi was preoccupied with his thoughts, Karin's eyes gleamed the moment a familiar chakra got close to her prison cell.

"Finally", Karin breathed, calling the guard's attention back to her. "It looks like our time together has come to an end."

Before the guard could move an inch, the wall behind Karin crumbled into pieces, revealing a big man with spiky, orange hair. His right fist was still in the air where he made contact with the wall.

"You sure took your time getting me out of here, Jugo", Karin complained, getting up from her spot and facing her teammate. Behind her, the guard was on his feet and unlocking her cell.

"We have to go now", Jugo told her calmly and started to walk away.

"Wait, one minute", the Shinobi growled. "You are not going anywhere!" He went for Karin. But just as he was getting to her, Jugo appeared out of nowhere, blocking him. The Bored Shinobi could do nothing but watch, shocked, as Jugo took hold of his jacket and threw him against the wall where he slid to the ground.

"Suigetsu is waiting for us."

Karin did not need to be told twice. She could feel several chakras coming her way. So with a parting look at her former guard and hoping he would heed the advice she given him, Karin followed Jugo outside.

* * *

It was the sound of the explosion followed by that of broken glass that prompted Sakura into action. She stuck her head out the office window, her eyes going along the wall up to where a gaping hole stood in what she recognized as Little Itachi's room.

Immediately, Sakura swung her body out of the window, falling until she felt chakra surged to her feet. She then sat one foot on the side of the wall followed by the other. When she mastered the balance she needed, she tore along the wall, hands flying by her side. As Sakura neared the hole, she jumped and landed on the opening's edge.

Her body tensed as she scanned the room.

Everything inside the room was thrown against the wall and was noticeably covered in water. The door was open and the guards she met earlier were on the floor, unmoving.

"What happened here?" one Shinobi demanded, landing next to Sakura.

"Tell the Hokage, the boy has been taken and –" Sakura commanded, her voice calm and steady, not exposing how scared and angry she was. Her eyes followed a group of shinobi heading towards the prison. From a distance, the village alarms were heard, signaling all to the danger. "I'm going to get him back."

* * *

"Do you have everything you need this time?" White Zetzu asked.

"No", Sasuke replied shortly, irritated by the Thing's presence. Apparently, it was to remain by Sasuke's side at all times while Madara and Zetzu's black side were out.

In Zetzu's words, he was Sasuke's guard, left behind to make sure the transplant went smoothly.

In Sasuke's words, Zetzu was the babysitter, left behind to make sure he – Sasuke – sat put and did not poke his nose on Madara's business.

Unfortunately for Zetsu, his job had barley began, and he had already failed.

If Zetzu had found Sasuke just a couple of minutes before he did, he could have prevented the Uchiha from learning of a pink-haired boy named Sasuke.

A boy sharing his name was nothing new to the young Uchiha. Many boys did, especially in Konoha, home to Sarutobi Sasuke. In his Academy year alone, there had been three Sasukes apart from him.

What made him pause and rewind was that this Sasuke had pink hair. Pink hair was not common. He only seen one person with that unnatural hair color, and his gut feeling was telling him the boy was connected to her; a relative of hers was probably the case.

Sasuke picked up a scroll from his drawer before heading to Zetsu; his kanata was secured in his other hand.

"Why you need a scroll and sword when we are going to the operation room is beyond me", Zetsu commented, moving ahead of Sasuke in order to guide him.

Sasuke remained quiet. He refused to give an explanation to a subordinate, especially one belonging to Madara. Besides, he couldn't explain to a spy – because that was Zetsu's other job description – that he always carried his belongings with him. It never hurt to be vigilant and have tools on standby if danger ever came.

And danger was sure to come from what he seen in the last couple of days.

There was Madara using Suigetsu and Jugo without consulting him, and Madara bringing the boy with the pink hair – pink hair! He could just feel the boy was related to Sakura, that hair color was a trademark of her family.

The boy said he was five, so he obviously wasn't Sakura's son, and Sakura was not _that_ kind of a girl.

He could be her brother, but the problem was the boy had to have been born while Sasuke was in the village. If that had been the case, then Sakura would have told him at some point about her "adorable baby brother." And Sasuke – who prided himself on many things including having a good memory – could not recall Sakura ever mentioning her brother.

It was down to the boy being a cousin or distant relative of hers, but the same problem remained. Even if the boy was Sakura's cousin, Sasuke would have heard about him because that was how Sakura was. She liked to talk his ear off about her life and that of her civilian family. Furthermore, he was sure the Haruno family was native to Konoha. He would have seen more pink hair in other villages otherwise. So if the boy was a Haruno, he had to be from Konoha, which meant…

_Shoosh_

Sasuke jumped to the side, taking his kanata from its sheath. In front of him, Zetsu fell to the floor, lying there with a large fang through his head. Standing several feet behind was a cloaked figure; his face was covered by the shadows of the hood he wore.

Sasuke's body fell to a defensive stance. His eyes going cold and calculating as he felt the familiar chakra, the chakra he felt on the day he met the boy.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked.

"If you want to know, then follow me", the same voice of an overly pleasant man responded. Without waiting for an answer, he turned, leaving behind an overly curious Sasuke.

Looking down at the motionless Zetsu, Sasuke approached him before kicking him.

No reaction came from the dead Akatsuki. But there was a reaction from Sasuke.

His body stiffened as his vision wavered and blurred. He felt as blood trickled down his cheek, coming from his eyes.

"Not now!" he said, backing against the wall to stop his body from swaying.

"Now is the perfect time, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned to the direction the cloaked man spoke from. Through the bur, he could only make out colors to a small degree. He could see grey covered the top of the man's head.

Sasuke growled, falling to his knees as the sharp pain in his head intensified. He closed his eyes, hoping it would help.

"Oh my, you don't look good" Sasuke heard. The voice echoed in head, making the pain worse. "This is what happens when you used that Sharingan of yours too much."

The man was no longer pleasant. His tone had changed to condescending.

"_That tone. I know that tone."_

There were only two people he knew whom dared to use that condescending tone with him. And one he already killed.

"Kabuto", Sasuke said. "What are you doing here?"

Kabuto chuckled. "I see you are still as pleasant as ever, Sasuke. And to answer your question, I came to make you a proposition. Tell me, what do you want the most, your sight or … your family?"

* * *

The distance between the prison and forest was closer than Karin originally thought. Something she was grateful for. Once in the forest, they could easily lose the guards trailing after them.

"Jugo, two o'clock!" Karin shouted as she felt a chakra approach them from the side.

In the blink of an eye, her teammate brought down another guard, crushing down the man with a single hand. Without waiting to make sure the guard was dead or alive, they moved on.

It was around this time – as they dodge attacks, Jugo took down more guards, and they tore through the forest – a thought occurred to Karin.

She didn't know if it was because she was tired and her body demanded some rest or the thought of returning to the Akatsuki meant certain death. Whatever the reason was, it didn't matter because it occurred to her that she didn't have to return. There were no friends there for her and no epic romance waiting to happen.

There was nothing in it for her.

"Karin, we have to hurry", Jugo said beside her, annoyed at her for stopping.

"Give me a second."

"We don't –"

Fine, she would ditch the Akatsuki, but what kind of a life would she have? She had nowhere to go and, as Konoha's interrogators kindly reminded her, she was considered an international criminal along with the other members of Taka. Was she strong to brave it on her own and start from scratch?

"What are you two doing?" Karin vaguely registered Suigetsu's voice.

"She won't move."

"Then make her", Suigetsu suggested.

Leave it to Suigetsu to be a savage. "I'm not going" Karin snapped.

"Heh?" Suigetsu stared back with large eyes until they narrow with suspicion. "Are you kidding? We don't have time for jokes, Karin."

The answer was yes. Using her abilities, she had a chance to make it on her own. She could find a nice, secluded village where she could wait out the war. Oh, thinking about it sounded so nice to her.

She would do it.

Karin adjusted her glasses and a firm tone repeated. "I'm not going. I refuse to be a too…" She stopped talking and pointed at the black sack Suigetsu had over his shoulder. "What you got there?" That sack was large enough to fit a body and judging by its shape it look like there was an actual body inside it, although small.

"Sasuke's –wait, we don't have time for this. Are you coming or not?"

Crossing her arms, Karin held on to her decision. "No. I'm not."

Jugo and Seigutsu shared a look. It seem that it was hard for them to believe Sasuke's number one fan refused to go back to the object of her obsession.

"Karin", Jugo said tried one last time, sounding concerned. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

Her reply was a stubborn nod of her head. Despite how warm it felt to have at least one person worrying about her, there was no way a show of concern would dissuade her from her decision.

Both boys were surprise. They didn't say anything until Suigetsu whistled his disbelief, the passing wind carrying away the tune.

"Then this is where we say goodbye." Jugo said.

Suigetsu took out a scroll from his pocket and threw one last disappointing look at Karin's direction.

Watching the two of them preparing to leave, an uncomfortable knot formed in Karin's stomach. She never had friends, but Jugo and Suigetsu were her teammates. She owed them for old times sake.

"Wait!" She shouted before they could activate the teleportation jutsu. "Be…be careful with Sasuke. He tried to kill me. He could try the same with you."

Neither Suigetsu nor Jugo showed a reaction. Karin grew uncomfortable under their gaze. Maybe she should have just kept quiet. They had no reason to believe her.

"We know", Suigetsu finally said.

"You do? But then why are – Wait, don't tell me. I thought you should know," she said in a hurried voice. "And you do, so it's no longer my concern. Thank you for breaking me out and see you around."

"_Let's hope not_", Karin thought, going the opposite direction, away from her former team and the incoming chakras.

Karin heard the sound of wind being sucked, signaling the activation of the teleportation jutsu, and she turned in time to see the cloud of smoke from the jutsu disappear. With a heavy sigh, Karin turned back and met a pair of angry, blue eyes.

"_How did _- ?"

With no time to react, she was pinned to a tree with a kunai pressed to her throat.

"Tell me where the kid is."

Karin looked closely at her attacker and widened her eyes as she recognized him. He was the blonde Uzumaki, Sasuke's former teammate and the one with the dazzling chakra. But his chakra was different. It felt cold to her and conflicted like a storm.

"Where is he?" he repeated with a snarl, pressing the kunai further. She could feel in sharpness against her skin. One wrong move from her, and she was a goner.

"I…I don't k-know", she struggled to say, perspire accumulating in her forehead. It was crossing her mind that this boy would kill her. He looked savaged with the fangs growing in his mouth. Reason was gone from his eyes, consumed by wild anger.

"_I should have gone with them_", Karin regretted, thinking this would be her last thought before meeting kami-sama on the other side.

It seemed Kami-sama had other plans in stored for her.

"Naruto!" Karin heard someone yell and felt the kunai on her throat loosened. Uzumaki's eyes cleared a bit as his chakra became less dark.

Karin glanced at her savior and could have groaned if she could.

"_Not you again_!"

A surprised expression flashed trough Haruno Sakura's face as she recognized Karin. Clearly, the medic never expected to find her here…out of jail. She turned back to Uzumaki, disapproval written all over her face.

"_Hey, hey! Hurry up and tell him to release me. I'm going to die here_!"

"Let her go, Naruto", Haruno said in tone that match the hardness in her eyes.

"She knows where they took him", Naruto said but still did what he was told.

While the two teammates had their staring contest, Karin fell to her knees, muddling them on the wet floor.

That was a close call. Once again, she almost lost her life to a Konoha Shinobi. And to make matters worse, she never felt him coming. How annoying!

Finally regaining a bit of her fiery spirit, Karin spoke.

"I told you. I DON'T know about a boy", she said, wishing her voice had sounded stronger instead of hoarse and weak.

Haruno looked carefully at her, trying to weight the truth of her words. Finally, when she was satisfied Karin was telling the truth, she said, "One of your teammates - the one with water jutsu – kidnapped a child from this village."

A light bulb turned on Karin's head. She knew it! She knew it! So she was not Jugo and Suigetsu's sole mission in Konoha. The sack Fish Breath was carrying was the boy these two were talking about.

"You _do_ know about him," Uzumaki growled. The dark chakra emanating from him again was overwhelming Karin. She quickly turned to the pink haired kunoichi.

"I saw Suigetsu carrying the boy. But that's all I know of him. I swear, upon my village's honor, that's the truth."

"But you know where they took him." It was Naruto again.

Feeling his menacing chakra and looking into his furious eyes that wanted to take out the truth from her by force if he had to, Karin answered the question that had been asked of her since she was captured. Before, no matter what method was used on her, Karin didn't cave. But one look at Uzumaki made her spill out the truth. Who wouldn't when they could feel the kyuubi's fowl chakra mingling with the boy's with each second that was used to interrogate Karin. It was only a matter of time before Uzumaki lost his control over the demon, and Karin had no intention of being near the vicinity.

So she gave them something that would save her neck, thinking that the moment she had an opening she would make her escape to freedom.

Without meeting their eyes, Karin took a heart-shaped object from inside her blouse and handed it to them.

"…this is…" Uzumaki trailed off, no longer sounding intimidating. Next to him, the medic raised her eyebrow, making Karin feel offended.

"What? Don't look at me like that. You liked Sasuke too, right? I'm sure you have one too."

Karin watched in satisfaction as Haruno's skin turned red. The medic shot a panicked look at Uzumaki whom was studying the picture frame, turning it up and down. Sakura coughed.

"Ahem, how will this help us?" she asked

"You open it, obviously. Behind the picture, you will find a piece of paper pasted to it. After these hands signs – and yes it's one tiger followed by another – bring your hand over the marking. That will lead you to the Akatsuki if Sasuke is with them", she told them, praying silently this was her opportunity to escape.

The two ninjas turned their backs to her, but there was enough space between them for her to see them opening frame.

Careful not to attract their attention, Karin rose to her feet.

"What is this?" Haruno asked, looking for Karin. She was so confused by the tomoe on the paper that she didn't stop to wonder why Karin was now standing a few feet away from them.

" _You just had to look up! Didn't you?"_ To Sakura, Karin replied, "A teleportation jutsu scroll. One of three to be exact. Sasuke took the scrolls before leaving Lord Orochimaru's lair. As you can see, I cut the main piece from mine and attached it to the picture."

The usual look of hatred and disgust that followed the name graced their features at the mentioned of the Sannin

"So it's Orochimaru's creation?" Haruno asked.

"He designed the scrolls based on the fourth Hokage's technique, I think…I don't remember too well, but it's not important. You just need to say Sasuke's name or think of him while you have the hand over the seal. It will work, no matter the distance, as long as Sasuke has his scroll with him." She wondered if the interrogation would be over soon. They had places to be, and she had an escape to make.

But it was not going to be the case. "Wait a minute, you had this on you all this time, but you didn't use it. Why?" the damned Uzumaki asked suspiciously.

Karin could not help but flinch at the personal question.

Of course she thought of using it! In the early days of her capture, she wanted so much to return to her team, to Sasuke. She would then take the picture out, and, just as she was about to use the justu, her guards would walk in. To avoid suspicion, she pretended the reason for taking out the picture was to talk to it. After several incidents of this, the guards become accustomed to her bizarre habit.

But as much as her heart screamed at her to return, she never allowed herself to use the jutsu. She was proud to be a girl with enough sense to keep a distance between her and a lunatic. Sense these Konoha Shinobi seem to lack by the looks of it.

"That's none of your business Uzumaki. I told you all I know and given you your ticket to the Akatsuki. Now, if you excuse me, I'm leaving."

Karin had not taken two steps when her path was blocked, again…by a hyuga.

"_Oh Shit_!"

* * *

Kakashi's office was full with bickering Shinobi. Each one wanting to have his say in the matter the Hokage had resolved by making – what they secretly labeled- another "irrational" decision.

"It is a mistake. No matter what rank they have, that squad is too green for this mission. You can't send children to battle the Akatsuki. We need the army, the army I tell you." One Shinobi cried.

"You are forgetting Naruto battled the Akatsuki before and won. We need to trust this time won't be different from the last." Another said.

"I still don't see how they could have been promoted. With all due respect Hokage, but we have a protocol we have followed-"

Said Hokage was not listening to them. His ears were for the Nara father and son. At the moment, the pair was briefing Kakashi on how the Akatsuki had managed to get inside the village without detection. From what their initial inspections of the compromise sites indicated, the boy with the liquid body made use of the puddles around the village to sneak to the hospital by transforming his body to water and passing as one. By the time the guards at the door noticed something was wrong, the Kirigakure ninja had the boy secured and was more than capable in dealing with the guards.

As for the one who freed the Karin girl, he literally made his openings. And if anyone crossed his path, his fits made sure they could not raise the alarm.

"Do you hear something", Shikamaru asked, raising his head from the group. All men nodded. They could hear loud, protesting voices making their way to the office. One of the shinobi started to walk to the door, intending to find out what the commotion was about.

_Bang_

The door flew open, slamming the man on the face, and the Kumogakure kunoichi came in. Closely behind her, Kakashi's guards followed, looking scandalize.

"You can't just barged in here without permission", one of the said outraged.

"My foot slipped." Samui's cooled gazed was immediately on Kakashi. "Lord Hokage, I apologize for my rudeness, but I must speak with you."

Her firm posture and eyes transmitted the message she would not take a no for an answer.

"Alright", Kakashi said slowly. " I'll hear what the lady was to say. You are all dismissed."

Despite the new alliance, no one in the room wanted to leave their leader with a member of a village they had, until recently, considered hostile. They had doubts about Kakashi and his leadership, but he was still their leader. No one wanted him to face an untimely death, especially when they did not have a backup to replace him if such an event occurred.

"I will be fine. I assure you the title of Hokage has not taken my power away", Kakashi said.

And so it was with great hesitation that all Shinobi filed out of the office, throwing suspicious looks at the kunoichi's way and in Shikamaru's case muttering "troublesome woman."

Once the door was shut, Samui spoke.

"I'll get to the point, Hokage", she began. "Your village was just infiltrated, one of your people kidnapped by Akatsuki, and Uzumaki Naruto is going after them, but you have not done anything to get him back. "

"I send his teammates after him", Kakashi offered, thinking of Neji, Sai, and one very pissed off Sakura.

"To aid him you mean."

Kakashi fell silent. If he was not careful, his plan to bring back Sasuke alive would be discovered.

"What is it that you want...What is your surname?" he asked abruptly, trying at least to sound respectful when addressing her.

Not to be fazed by the sudden change of topic, Samui replied calmly. "I don't have one. Samui is fined, Lord Hokage. And in response to your other question, I think you are forgetting the purpose for which this alliance was created, _Sir_. All hidden villages swore to protect the remaining host of the tail demons – to prevent them from being captured by Madara. You are handing Uzumaki in a silver platter with your underhanded actions."

"Underhanded?"

"Yes, underhanded. Have you informed the other Kages about this situation, Sir?

Now that he thought about it, Kakashi had not. With the discovery of the boy and another infiltration, Kakashi forgot to send a message to the other kages. In fact, the last correspondence he had with the other shadows was a message he sent informing them of the village's invasion.

This wasn't good.

Bound by their alliance, the other villages would respond with reinforcements. Luckily, the reinforcements had yet to arrive, which was good if his latest plan was to succeed. But if the Kages knew of the latest development, not only would those reinforcements get here faster than he could say "Icha Icha Paradise", the Kages would come personally.

Until everything with Sasuke was settled, he had to prevent the kages from knowing what was really occurring in Konoha.

Kakashi's realized too late that he had remained quiet and his silence had been taken as suspicious. Without warning, Samui walked forward until the desk was the only barrier between her and Kakashi. Her cool eyes grew hot with dislike something that Kakashi was taken back about. He had assumed the kunoichi was nothing but respectful to her superiors.

"I was told by many of your grand deeds, Hokage. You are celebrated as fearsome in battle and worthy of being an elite ninja. The Kazekage and even my Kage think highly of you too. It is said you are the only Shinobi in this village they trust the most after Uzumaki…I think popular opinion is overrated", Samui said before turning and leaving the room.

As he watched her leave, the corner of Kakashi's lips lifted, forming a smile underneath his mask. He felt amused by what the kunoichi said. She was not the first one to bluntly state his shortcomings. And had she stayed a moment longer, Kakashi would have told her how little he cared about other's opinions. He stopped being that kind of a man a long time ago.

Naruto and Sakura tensed at the sight of Neji and Sai, both looking disapproving, though Sai looked less compared to their captain. With an air of authority, Neji walked past the Taka girl and headed straight to where the pair stood while Sai moved to block Karin.

"Where do you two think you're going?" he demanded.

Sakura wondered if she was meant to always be in Neji's bad side. She had just earned some respect from him thanks to her shield only to lose it in a couple of hours.

"We are going after the kid", Naruto replied at once.

"I know you are, but why – "

"Because is what we do", Sakura said, using the words that would motivate her overly honorable captain to let them go. "We fight for our village, and we protect those in the village. That boy…that boy is one of us. Trust me."

What she had said might not have been true. Technically, the elder Itachi was considered a deserter, and Sakura had no idea to what village boy's mother belonged to.

Neji sighed. He still looked as tired as the day before. "Listen you two. I had no intention of asking you why you were going after the enemy. I think I know the two of you well by now and going on a rescue mission is something you would do. What I will not tolerate is recklessness and – most importantly – failure. You don't leave your team behind. We went over this. To win we need combine power. Stop trying to do things by yourself."

"So you are saying…" Sakura lingered on the last word, waiting for Neji to finish.

"We are going after them. It's the Hokage's order. Besides, our initial target should be with them. We are to recover the boy, and…" Neji hesitated as he looked at the wary Sakura. "I have a message for you from the Hokage."

"**It better not be what I'm thinking**", her inner threatened.

Sakura's stomach churned with dread as she remembered the last conversation she had with Kakashi. The man had to be insane. There was no way she could save a criminal, especially when she had come to terms with his impending death by her hand.

"What is it?" she asked, thinking that it was better to get it over with.

"Don't let him die, Sakura."

Sakura quietly sucked in her breath. He did it. Kakashi gave the order again.

"Right", she breathed, flexing her hand into a fist in an effort to stop her self from screaming with frustration.

Without noticing Sakura's brooding, Neji went into action mode.

"How were you planning on getting to the boy?" he asked, crossing his arms in expectation.

Naruto raised Uchiha's picture. "The Taka girl said this will teleport us to where Sasuke is."

Choosing to not comment on the picture, Neji took the frame and scrutinizing the symbol behind.

"Heh, a tomoe" he muttered. "Sai, tie the girl and come over here. The guards should not be too far off."

Two ink snakes slither from Sai's scroll, going for Karin. Karin yelped and ran, but her speed was no match for the snakes. They reached her and slithered up to her hands, using their body to bind her them behind her back.

"You have everything with you?" Neji asked the group as soon Sai reached the group, taking the empty between Neji and Naruto. They all nodded. There was little they could take for the mission. None of them was wearing their uniform. With all the commotion, they had no time to change out of their civilian clothes. But at least, they had the sense to carry weapons with them at all times.

"You should put that thing on the ground" Karin told them in a resentful voice as Neji - with Sakura's help - activated the jutsu.

They huddled together, looking down at the paper. For a few awkward moments after Neji brought down his hand, nothing happened. Sakura was starting to wonder if Karin had lied when she saw the tomoe move in circles. It started off slow but with each turned it gained speed, and the circle grew. Soon, the tomoe was nothing but a flash. It was then when Sakura felt her body being pulled and heard the wind being sucked in. She fought it at first, not knowing what was happening until she saw a small black whole at the center of the scroll.

Neji was the first to be sucked into it followed by Sai and then Naruto. As Sakura's body bent forward, she shut her eyes close.

"Captain, we found the prisoner!" was the last thing she heard before she too disappeared into the whole.

* * *

The part of the forest they were walking through was dark, wet, and void of animal sound. The only sound heard was of the raindrops hitting against the leaves or landing on the running river.

Kabuto was at the front of their two-man party. His heavy cloak and over large hood were effective in covering him completely. Walking a step or sometimes two behind was Sasuke, his narrowed eyes never straying from his "guide." As he wordlessly followed Kabuto, he was reminded of how difficult self-restraint came to him. His hands burned with the want of beating Madara's location from Kabuto.

"_They are alive_."

Memories of what went back in the hideout played in Sasuke's mind willingly.

"Tell me, what do you want the most, your sight or…your family?"

"My family is dead", Sasuke snarled, his words heavy with hate.

The medic's laughter ran through the corridor, making Sasuke raise his head. "Oh, Sasuke. I'm sorry, but it's just…this is too funny. All this time what you have been yearning for the most has been so close. It's ironic. To think that you and that little…" Kabuto chuckled one last time before composing himself and saying softly, "Trust me, Sasuke. Your family is alive and Madara will keep you from them."

In that moment, Sasuke forgot about his pain and his impending blindness. Kabuto's words echoed loudly in his head, making his body trembled.

"_It can't be true. They are gone. They are all gone."_

It had to be a lie. "What sick game are you playing?" Sasuke said quietly; his anger barley contained.

"No, game. I know where they are…or will be. All you have to do is follow me."

It was Sasuke's turn to laugh. He was impulsive not stupid. "Why would I trust you? For all I know, I would be walking to a trap."

Kabuto fell to a contemplative silence before speaking again.

"How about an agreement? All I'm asking you to do is to follow me. If you do, not only will you see your family, but I'll also give you a gift. As a matter of fact, I'll give it to you now since I don't have any intention of carrying you."

He heard Kabuto's steps making their way to him. Sasuke struggled to get up, pushing away the pain of his pounding head.

"Take this."

Sasuke felt something being dangled in front of him. He slapped Kabuto's arm away from him and heard Kabuto sigh, sounding like a parent did when dealing with his child's temper tantrum.

"It's not poisoned, Sasuke. Think of it as an incentive. With this little potion, the effects of the mangekyo sharingan will be held back temporarily. Don't you want to see your family? To save them from Madara?"

Against his better judgment but not quite believing Kabuto Sasuke snapped, "Why would he hurt them? They are his clan."

"He will do that much and more. But you can save them if you come with me, or you can choose to stay and realize I told you the truth when you see their dead bodies laying before you."

A bright spark Sasuke thought had been extinguished years ago came to life. It was small like the flame from a match. It quietly danced inside Sasuke taunting him. It was hope, so small, yet strong enough to make Sasuke reach for Kabuto's potion. His hand closed on a flask. He brought it to his nose and sniffed the odorless potion.

"How long is a while?" Sasuke asked, remembering what Kabuto had said earlier.

"Long enough for you to find the truth."

"And the catch? I know you are not doing this for free."

"Everything comes with a price. And let's say the price for my little gift has not been determined. But I will let you know as soon as I decide what it is."

It was not an answer Sasuke liked, but at the moment, he could not think of another option. There was a possibility his family was alive, and he could not be powerless to help them.

He would not loose them again. He would not be alone anymore.

In one gulp, he swallowed the repulsive potion.

The effects were immediate.

He felt a pulse go through his body, and, as more followed, he got on his hands. His breathing quickened. And then everything in front of him was clear again. The fog in his eyes was gone and so was pain. He could see.

Back in the forest, a begrudging Sasuke had to admit the effectiveness of Kabuto's potion. Not only did it bring back his sight, it had given him more power. He could feel the hot energy in his body, assuring no one would stop him.

It was a feeling he liked. And one he usually did anything to keep.

"Can't we move faster?" Sasuke asked, breaking the silence they had been keeping since they left the hideout.

Kabuto jumped over a fallen tree, the bottom part of his cloak lifting as he descended and revealing a thick, white mass with scales curled around his feet. If Sasuke wasn't mistaken, the mass looked like a snake. Jumping over the tree, Sasuke maintained his eyes on the white mass now uncurling itself.

Kabuto looked back at him, a smile playing on his lips. "We don't need to. We will get there just in time to see your darling family arrive", he said and kept on walking.

Sasuke followed, but this time he was more cautious than before. His body was ready to form seals and jump back if he had to.

The trail they were on ascended, becoming rockier. As they kept on walking, there were less and less trees around, allowing for more light to get through.

"And here we are", Kabuto said, stopping behind the only group of trees. "Go head, Sasuke, take a look."

Cautiously, Sasuke walked over to where Kabuto was, flatted his back against a tree, and looked back. Standing in the middle of the rocky cliff was Madara. The older man's hand rested on top of the pink-haired boy's head. They both seemed to be waiting for something, seeing as the boy's head kept turning from one direction to another.

"When will they get here?" Sasuke was close enough to hear the boy's impatient voice.

"Soon, feel for your self", Madara said, adopting Toby's voice and taking a familiar scroll from inside his sleeve and handing it to the boy. "Feel how it's growing hot? It means they have activated the jutsu. Your brother is on his way."

Sasuke's hand flew to the scroll tucked to his waist. Could it…could it be a fake? Madara must have switched them when Sasuke was not looking. Seeing his possession in Madara's hands nearly drove Sasuke to bolt from his spot and go after the scroll. He hated others touching what was his.

Kabuto's words held him back.

"Don't waste the only opportunity you have on a scroll. A scroll, if I am not mistaken, you stole from Orochimaru. It's not yours."

Sasuke snorted quietly. The young Uchiha never regarded taking Orochimaru's little experiment as theft. He thought of it more along the lines of repayment for being the snake's pupil for three years.

"AH! It burned me."

By the time Sasuke looked back, the boy and Madara were taking cover behind a rock. The scroll was in the ground; a burst of wind was erupting from it and causing a cloud of dust to rise. Long before the dust had settled and the scroll had gone cold, Sasuke knew who had teleported. So it did not come as a surprise to see Suigetsu and Jugo being thrown out of the scroll.

As both boys rose, they showed no signs of guilt for using Sasuke's scrolls without their leader's permission. Jugo was his usual quiet self, and Suigetsu…Suigetsu was struggling with a sack he had over his shoulder

"Let go of me!" a boy cried from inside the sack.

"Stay put or I'll cut you", Suigetsu warned to which the boy responded by putting extra effort into his battle with Suigetsu. "Is he the boy you wanted because he seems more like a little demon to me?" he directed the question to Madara, whom was guiding the pink-haired boy by the hand.

"Why don't we ask, this little fellow? Boy is he your brother?"

Kabuto moved closer to Sasuke and whispered with what Sasuke could only describe as delight: "Here it comes, Sasuke. The big revelation."

One big revelation that gave Sasuke the shock of his life

"Itachi?" the pink-haired Sasuke called.

"_What? What did he say?" _Sasuke snapped his head towards Kabuto.

"Watch", Kabuto mouthed silently. Sasuke reluctantly turned back and saw whoever was in the sack stopped struggling, allowing Suigetsu to bring him down and to quickly released him from the sack.

Sasuke stretched his neck forward, his mouth opening.

A child nearly the same age as pink-haired Sasuke sat on the ground. Like the other boy, his eyes were bandaged, and bruises in the process of healing covered his arms and legs. It was not these aspects of his appearance that made Jugo demand what was going on and Suigetsu look away guiltily.

Sasuke stood tense as he stared at the boy with the raven hair and olive skin. He didn't know what Kabuto saw in his face, but he wouldn't be surprise if he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Sasu? " the younger version of Sasuke asked in a small voice, sounding uncertain. Then in a much louder voice full of urgency he yelled: "Sasu! Sasu, is it you?"

Sasu broke away from Madara, falling in the process. "OW", he cried, bringing his scratch knee to his face.

"Sasu, are you hurt? Wait for me. I'm coming", the other boy yelled and began crawling in Sasu's direction.

Sasuke watched the boys until Jugo spoke, stepping to where Madara was.

"That boy is an Uchiha", he said.

"No", Madara corrected, switching back to his original voice. "Both are."

Madara appeared before the reunited boys in a blink of an eye, his right hand reaching for them.

Madara's words had not sunk in yet when, without knowing why, Sasuke reacted. He left the cover of the trees, getting in between the boys and Madara and slashing the older Uchiha's hand with his Kanata. Madara was forced back. His hand rested by his side, forgotten and bleeding as all his attention was on Sasuke.

"I suppose Zetzu is dead if you're here", Madara said.

"You don't seem surprised", Sasuke said, keeping his Kanata drawn and ready to attack. Behind him, one of the children started to cry. He didn't have to guess whom.

"I'm an Uchiha. We don't trust others but our own. Even then we don't do it lightly."

Sasuke knew he was right. It was one of the first lessons his father taught him. And Itachi was one example of why one should still be wary of their clan men.

"Is it true what you said? Are these two Uchiha?" Sasuke asked.

Madara's red eye looked directly at Sasuke. "What do you think, Sasuke?"

"They can't be. No one from the clan was left to fathered the two except –"

"It wasn't your brother, Sasuke", Kabuto said from the left, relishing the situation. He had removed his hood, allowing for Sasuke to see his face.

For a second, Sasuke thought he was looking at Orochimaru. Like his master, Kabuto's skin was pasty white and his eyes were like pupils of a snake with purple markings around them. Those eyes moved over the two boys.

"Children, tell my friend here who your parents are."

Sasu opened his mouth to speak, but the one he called Itachi seized his arm, stopping him.

"That is right", Kabuto said, understanding what was going on. "You can't speak to strangers, but I'm not a stranger. Remember me, Sasu? I'm the one who treated your wounds. I'm a medical ninja just like your mother"

Sasu nodded his head and whispered to his brother, "I know him, big brother."

"Sasu, can you tell us who your parents are?"

It was clear to Sasuke he was the only one who did not know whom the parents were. But he was staring to pick up on what Kabuto was insinuating. The thought of it made him break into sweat and almost loose his grip on his kanata. And it was getting hot. He wondered if he was the only one feeling the heat.

Sasu bit his lip. "Um…my daddy…daddy is like me. His name is Uchiha Sasuke, and my mommy is mommy. But people call her Sakura…like the trees."

Kabuto smiled at Sasuke as his snake-like tongue hung from his mouth. Half a dozen hissing white snakes slithered from under his robe and rose in front of him, forming a protective circle. "See Sasuke, I kept my promise. I brought you to your family. And now, I will take them away from you. That is my prize."

The snakes attacked, flying towards the boys and growing in size as they did. Swiftly putting his Kanata away, Sasuke snatched both boys around their waist and hauled them to the air with him. The snakes were closely behind.

"Jugo! Suigetsu!" Sasuke yelled down. "Catch and cut"

Sasuke released the boys.

Ignoring their screams, Sasuke directed his fireball jutsu at the snakes. As he maintained the flamethrower on the snakes one detach from the group, following its little preys with its mouth wide and body scorched by the fire.

Luckily Jugo and Suigetsu had moved the second Sasuke gave his command. Jugo jumped to catch the boys in the air. Enraged by his food being stolen, the snake widened its mouth and lunged. What met him midair was not Jugo and the boys. It was Suigetsu and his sword.

"Surprise", Suigetsu said and slung his sword, beheading the snake with a clean cut.

Sasuke landed in front of Jugo as he finished torching the remaining snakes. Suigetsu landed beside him.

"You can summon snakes", Sasuke said to Kabuto.

Kabuto smirked in a way he never done before. Sasuke thought this was a new Kabuto in front of him, a Kabuto that was too stupidly cocky for his own good.

"I can do that and much more", Kabuto replied. "You see, after you killed our dear master, I realized I no longer had to suppress my ambitions and in the process of achieving them I could avenge Orochimaru. Our master and I were not so different. It's the reason why the two of us got along well. We were orphaned at a young age. We sought to perfect our knowledge of all jutsu. We both hated Konoha. And now we share the goal of capturing members of a certain clan."

And with that said Kabuto extended his hand, transforming it to another white snake.

Sasuke released the power of his sharingan and was about to counter-attack when an excruciating pain hit him. He would have fell face-forward to the ground if it weren't for Suigetsu catching him. Sasuke could not stop him mouth from opening and releasing a blood-curling scream.

He felt like everything inside of him was on fire and twisting. He heard the panic screams of the children behind him and an alarmed Jugo asking him what was wrong. Lastly, he heard Kabuto.

"It looks like the potion has worn out. Do you like its side effects? I made them especially for you, Sasuke. And don't worry about your blindness; it should follow in soon."

If he could have stopped screaming and the pain, Sasuke would have told Kabuto to go straight to hell and then proceed to killing him slowly and painfully.

"I believe, Kabuto, we had a deal. You would not get Sasuke until after the war", Madara said, deeming the time perfect to make his reappearance.

"We did. As Sasuke would tell you – if he could – I usually keep my word, but circumstances change, and…I must adapt with them. I never expected to find two young Uchiha here. They may be half, but they of the clan nonetheless. And to make it juicier for me, they are the children of the Uchiha I happen to hate the most. Can you blame me for not passing the opportunity?" Kabuto asked.

It seemed like an eternity had passed but the pain lessened to where Sasuke could move without screaming. He closed his mouth and slowly raised his neck, looking for Madara whom was standing on top of a rock towering Kabuto.

"Careful Kabuto", Madara warned. "Crossing an Uchiha is never wise."

All humor was gone from Kabuto's eyes. More snakes rose from under his cloak, hissing furiously at Madara. "You Uchiha and your arrogance" he sneered and then his twisted his mouth into a begrudging smile. "But you earned that arrogance. You are a talent that cannot be denied. Here you are, nearly extinct, but forcing enemies to unite just so they can bring you down. You bring fear to this world. That is the power of the Uchiha. A power I plan to take into me."

The snake launched at Madara, but Madara stayed where he was. There was no reason for him to move when he had his handy trick in hand. The snake passed right through him without leaving a single scratch. Kabuto hissed and went for Madara only for the latter to disappear and appear a second after behind, kicking Kabuto in the back.

"Suigetsu", Sasuke whispered. "You and Jugo to take the kids and run with them."

Uchiha or not, he could not let the children get caught in the middle of battle and be killed.

"What about you?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke forced himself to stand without Suigetsu's help.

"I'm killing that snake."

** To Be Continued**

A/N: As always, a big thank-you to all the readers.

This chapter was supposed to be longer and was supposed to be up two months ago. Unfortunately, I am stuck on a very important fighting scene, and, if I wait for that fight to be ready, I'm afraid another two months would have passed.

On another note, sketches of Sakura's parents were released for the upcoming film. I was planning on having her parents appear on this fan fiction, so it's good to see what they look like. Also, it seems like her dad was a former delinquent! I will definitely work that into the story Maybe the Uchiha Twins will inherited some traits from their grandfather?


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